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Title: French Idioms and Proverbs
A Companion to Deshumbert's "Dictionary of Difficulties"
Author: de Vinchelés Payen-Payne
Release Date: February 1, 2015 [EBook #48130]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRENCH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS ***
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WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
JULES SANDEAU. La Roche aux Mouettes (Extracts). [Nutt’s
Short French Readers, 6d.]
THÉOPHILE GAUTIER. Voyage en Italie. [Cambridge
University Press, 3s.]
ÉMILE SOUVESTRE. Le Philosophe sous les toits (Extracts).
[Blackie’s Little French Classics, 4d.]
PIERRE CŒUR. L’Âme de Beethoven. [Siepmann’s French
Series. Macmillan, 2s.]
FRENCH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS
“Omne epigramma sit instar apis; sit aculeus illi,
Sint sua mella, sit et corporis exigui.”
Martial.
[Thus Englished by Archbishop Trench:
“Three things must epigrams, like bees, have all;
Its sting, its honey, and its body small.”]
[And thus by my friend, Mr. F. Storr:
“An epigram’s a bee: ’tis small, has wings
Of wit, a heavy bag of humour, and it stings.”]
“Celebre dictum, scita quapiam novitate insigne.”
Erasmus.
“The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its
proverbs.”—Bacon.
“The people’s voice the voice of God we call;
And what are proverbs but the people’s voice?”
James Howell.
“What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”
Pope, Essay on Criticism.
“The wit of one man, the wisdom of many.”—Lord John
Russell (Quarterly Review, Sept. 1850).
FRENCH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS
A COMPANION TO DESHUMBERT’S
“DICTIONARY OF DIFFICULTIES”
BY
DE V. PAYEN-PAYNE
PRINCIPAL OF KENSINGTON COACHING COLLEGE
ASSISTANT EXAMINER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
FOURTH REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
[Fifth Thousand]
LONDON
DAVID NUTT, 57-59 LONG ACRE
1905
“Tant ayme on chien qu’on le nourrist,
Tant court chanson qu’elle est aprise,
Tant garde on fruit qu’il se pourrist,
Tant bat on place qu’elle est prise.
Tant tarde on que faut entreprise,
Tant se haste on que mal advient,
Tant embrasse on que chet la prise,
Tant crie l’on Noel qu’il vient.”
Villon, Ballade des Proverbes.
[vii]
PREFACE
In this edition I have endeavoured to keep down additions as much
as possible, so as not to overload the book; but I have not been
sparing in adding cross-references (especially in the Index) and
quotations from standard authors. These quotations seldom give
the first occasion on which a proverb has been used, as in most
cases it is impossible to find it.
I have placed an asterisk before all recognised proverbs; these
will serve as a first course for those students who do not wish
to read through the whole book at once. In a few cases I have
added explanations of English proverbs; during the eleven years
I have been using the book I have frequently found that pupils
were, for instance, as ignorant of “to bell the cat” as they were
of “attacher le grelot.”
I must add a warning to students who use the book when
translating into French. They must not use expressions marked
“familiar” or “popular” except when writing in a familiar or
low-class style. I have included these forms, because they are
often heard in conversation, but they are seldom met with in
serious French literature. A few blank pages have been added at
the end for additions. Accents have been placed on capitals[viii] to
aid the student; they are usually omitted in French printing.
In conclusion, I have to thank Mr. W. G. Lipscomb, M.A.,
Headmaster of Bolton Grammar School, Mr. E. Latham, and
especially M. Georges Jamin of the École Lavoisier, Paris, for
valuable suggestions; while M. Marius Deshumbert, and Professor
Walter Rippmann, in reading through the proof sheets, have made
many corrections and additions of the greatest value, for which I
owe them my sincere gratitude.
DE V. PAYEN-PAYNE.
[ix]
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
Belcher, H., and Dupuis, A., “Manuel aux
examens.” London, 1885.
Belcour, G., “English Proverbs.” London, 1888.
Bohn, H. G., “Handbook of Proverbs.” London, 1855.
Cats, Jacob, and Fairlie, R., “Moral Emblems.”
London, 1860.
Duplessis, M. Gratet, “La fleur des Proverbes français.”
Paris, 1851.
Furetière, A., “Dictionnaire universel.” La Haye, 1727.
Génin, F., “Récréations philologiques.” Paris, 1856.
Howell, James, “Lexicon Tetraglotton.” London, 1660.
Karcher, T., “Questionnaire français.” Seventh Edition.
London, 1886.
Lacurne de Ste. Palaye, “Dictionnaire historique de
l’ancien langage françois.” Paris, 1875-82.
Larchey, Lorédan, “Nos vieux Proverbes.” Paris, 1886.
Larousse, P., “Grand Dictionnaire universel du xixe
siècle.” 1865-76.
Le Roux de Lincy, A. J., “Livre des Proverbes français.”
2e édition. Paris, 1859.
Littré, E., “Dictionnaire de la langue française.”
Paris, 1863-72.
[x]
Loubens, D., “Proverbes de la langue française.” Paris,
1889.
Martin, Éman, “Le Courrier de Vaugelas.” Paris, 1868.
Quitard, P. M., “Dictionnaire étymologique des
Proverbes.” Paris, 1842.
Quitard, P. M., “Études sur les Proverbes français.”
Paris, 1860.
Rigaud, Lucien, “Argot moderne.” Paris, 1881.
Tarver, J. C., “Phraseological Dictionary.” London, 1854.
Trench, R. C., “Proverbs and their Lessons.” Sixth
Edition. London, 1869.
Quarterly Review. July 1868.
Notes and Queries. Passim.
[1]
FRENCH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS
Expressions to which an Asterisk is prefixed are Proverbs.
A.
Il ne sait ni A ni B = He does not know B from a bull’s foot;
He cannot read; He is a perfect ignoramus.
Être marqué à l’A = To stand high in the estimation of others.
[This expression is supposed to have originated in the custom of
stamping French coin with different letters of the alphabet. The
mark of the Paris Mint was an “A,” and its coins were supposed to
be of a better quality than those stamped at provincial towns. But
as this custom only began in 1418 by command of the Dauphin, son
of Charles VI., and as the saying was known long previous, it is
more probable that its origin is to be sought in the pre-eminence
that A has always held in all Aryan languages, and that the French
have borrowed it from the Romans. Compare Martial, ii.
57, and our A i, at Lloyd’s.]
Tout est à l’abandon = Everything is at sixes and sevens, in
utter neglect, in confusion.
[Also: Tout va à la dérive.]
*Petite pluie abat grand vent = A little rain lays much dust;
Often quite a trifle calms a torrent of wrath.
[Compare:
“Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt.”
Vergil, Georgics, iv. 86-7.]
[2]
Abattre de l’ouvrage = To get through a great deal of work.
Être aux abois = To be reduced to the last extremity; To be at bay.
[Compare Boileau: “Dès que j’y veux rêver, ma veine est aux abois.”]
*Abondance de biens ne nuit pas = Store is no sore; One cannot
have too much of a good thing.
Parler avec abondance = To speak fluently.
Parler d’abondance = To speak extempore.
Il abonde dans mon sens = He is entirely of the same opinion as
I am; He has come round to my opinion.
Il a l’abord rude, mais il s’adoucit bientôt = He receives you
roughly at first, but that soon passes off.
A (or, De) prime abord = At first sight; At the first blush.
Les pourparlers n’ont pas abouti = The preliminary negotiations
led to nothing.
*“Les absents ont toujours tort” = When absent, one is never in
the right.
“When a man’s away,
Abuse him you may.”
[Néricault-Destouches, L’obstacle imprévu, i. 6.]
L’homme absurde est celui qui ne change jamais = The wise man
changes his opinion—the fool never.
[Barthélemy, Palinode. 1832.]
Il est avec le ciel des accommodements = One can arrange things
with heaven.
[Compare Molière, Tartufe, iv. 5:
“Le ciel défend, de vrai, certains contentements,
Mais on trouve avec lui des accommodements.”
The scene in which Orgon, hidden beneath the table, learns
Tartufe’s hypocrisy.]
[3]
Un méchant accommodement est mieux que le meilleur procès = A
bad arrangement is better than the best lawsuit.
Je l’accommoderai comme il faut = I will give him a good hiding.
Il s’accommode de tout = He is satisfied with everything; He is
easy to please.
Accordez mieux vos flûtes, si vous voulez réussir = You must
agree better among yourselves if you wish to succeed.
[Generally in bad sense. “Mettez, pour me jouer, vos flûtes mieux
d’accord.”—Molière, L’Etourdi, i. 4.]
S’accorder comme chien et chat = To live a cat and dog life.
Chose accoutumée n’est pas fort prisée = Familiarity breeds
contempt.
[The Latin version of a sentence in Plutarch’s Morals
runs: “Nimia familiaritas contemptum parit.”
Fais feste au chien, il te gastera ton habit.
“Jamais trop compagnon à nul ne te feras
Car bien que moins de joye moins d’ennuy tu auras.”]
Un homme qui se noie s’accroche à tout = A drowning man catches
at a straw.
Il a accroché sa montre (pop.) = He has “popped” his watch.
[Other popular synonyms are the following:—
Il a mis sa montre au clou (pop.) = His watch is up the spout.
J’ai porté ma montre chez ma tante (pop.) = My watch is at my
uncle’s.]
Acheter à vil prix = To buy dirt cheap, for a mere song.
Acheter chat en poche = To buy a pig in a poke.
Acheter par francs et vendre par écus = To buy in the cheapest
market and sell in the dearest; To sell at a high profit.
C’est un voleur achevé = He is an arrant thief.
[4]
La pierre d’achoppement = The stumbling-block.
*Le bien mal acquis ne profite jamais = Ill-gotten gains
benefit no one; Cheats never prosper; Ill got, ill spent.
Faire quelque chose par manière d’acquit = To do something for
form’s sake, perfunctorily.
[This is a shortened form of faire quelque chose pour l’acquit de
sa conscience = to do something to satisfy one’s conscience.]
Donner l’acquit = To break (at billiards).
Pour acquit = Received (on bills).
Faire acte de présence = To put in an appearance.
Sans adieu = I shall not say good-bye; I shall see you again
soon.
[“Adieu” is shortened from “Je vous recommande à la grâce de
Dieu.” Comp. “Sans adieu, chevalier, je crois que nous nous
reverrons bientôt.”—Lesage.]
Le trait est arrivé à son adresse = The shaft (or, arrow) hit
the mark; He took the hint.
Vous vous adressez mal; Vous vous adressez bien (ironic.) =
You have come to the wrong person; You have mistaken your man.
*Advienne que pourra = Happen what may.
Cela fera parfaitement l’affaire = That will do capitally; That
will suit down to the ground.
C’est son affaire = That is his business, his look-out.
Ça, c’est mon affaire = That is my business; It is no business
of yours.
Il est sûr de son affaire = He will pay for it; He will catch
it.
[5]
Je ne dis pas mes affaires aux autres = I do not tell others my
plans (or business); I keep my concerns to myself.
J’entends votre affaire = I see what is to be done for you.
Ils parlent affaires = They are talking business.
Ils parlent boutique = They are talking shop.
C’est une triste affaire = It is a sad business.
S’attirer une mauvaise affaire = To get into a mess, scrape.
Quand on a de l’esprit, on se tire d’affaire = When one has
brains, one gets out of any difficulty.
[Distinguish between se tirer and s’attirer.]
Si quelque affaire t’importe, ne la fais pas par procureur = If
you want a thing done, do it yourself.
L’affaire a été chaude = It was warm work (referring to a
fight).
Une affaire d’honneur = A duel.
Où sont mes affaires? = Where are my things?
Les affaires ne vont pas (ne marchent pas) = Trade is dull,
slack.
Je suis dans les affaires = I am in business.
[“Les affaires? C’est bien simple, c’est l’argent des
autres.”—Alex. Dumas fils, La Question d’Argent, ii.
7.]
Mêlez-vous de vos affaires = Mind your own business.
Avoir affaire = To be occupied.
Avoir affaire à quelqu’un = To have to speak to (to deal with)
a person.
[Sometimes as a threat:
Il aura affaire à moi = He will have to
deal with me.]
Avoir affaire de quelqu’un = To need a person.
[“J’ai affaire de vous, ne vous éloignez pas.”]
[6]
Avoir son affaire = To have what suits one. J’ai mon affaire
= I have found what I want. J’ai votre affaire = I have got the
very thing for you. Il aura son affaire (ironic.) = He will
catch it.
C’est toute une affaire = It is a serious matter; It means a
lot of bother (or, trouble).
C’est une affaire faite = It is as good as done.
Son affaire est faite = He is a dead man (of one dying); He is
done for; He is a ruined man.
Faire son affaire = (of oneself) To succeed. Il fait tout
doucement son affaire = He is getting on slowly but surely.
(Of
others) To punish. S’il le rencontre, il lui fera son affaire =
If he meets him he will give it to him, will “do” for him.
Il a fait ses affaires dans les vins = He made his money in the
wine trade.
J’en fais mon affaire = I will take the responsibility of the
matter; I will see to it; I will take it in hand.
Vous avez fait là une belle affaire (ironic.) = You have made a
pretty mess of it.
Une affaire de rien = A mere nothing, a trifle.
Il est hors d’affaire = He is out of danger.
Être au dessous de ses affaires, être au dessus de ses affaires
(ironic.) = To be unable to meet one’s liabilities, to be
unsuccessful.
Quelle affaire! En voilà une affaire! (ironic.) = What a to-do!
What a row about nothing!
La belle affaire! = Is that all? (i.e. it is not so difficult
or important as you seem to think).
Il n’y a point de petites affaires = Every trifle is of
importance.
[7]
Ceux qui n’ont point d’affaires s’en font = Those who have no
troubles invent them; Idle people make business for themselves.
Les affaires sont les affaires = Business is business; One must
be serious at work.
Ce scandale sera l’affaire de huit jours = That scandal will be
a nine days’ wonder.
Dieu nous garde d’un homme qui n’a qu’une affaire = God save us
from the man of one idea.
[Because he is always talking of it, and tires every one. Compare
“Beware of the man of one book.”]
Chacun sait ses affaires = Every one knows his own business
best.
*A demain les affaires sérieuses = I will not be bothered with
business to-day; Time enough for business to-morrow.
[The saying of Archias, governor of Thebes, on receiving a letter
from Athens warning him of the conspiracy of Pelopidas; he would
not even open the letter. Soon after, the conspirators rushed in
and murdered him and his friends as they were feasting.]
Il vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu’à ses saints = It is
better to deal with superiors than subordinates.
[Two quotations from La Fontaine are proverbial:—
“On ne s’attendait guère
A voir Ulysse en cette affaire.”
La Tortue et les deux Canards.
“Le moindre grain de mil
Serait bien mieux mon affaire.”
Le Coq et la Perle.]
*Ventre affamé n’a point d’oreilles = A hungry man will not
listen to reason.
[La Fontaine, Fables, ix. 18.]
Défense d’afficher = Stick no bills.
C’est un homme qui s’affiche = He is a man who tries to get
talked about (generally in a disparaging sense).
[Être affiché is also said of a man who has been “posted” at his
club.]
[8]
Faire affront à quelqu’un = To shame some one in public.
Le fils fait affront à sa famille = The son is a disgrace to
his family.
Boire (essuyer or avaler) un affront = To pocket an
insult.
Être à l’affût = To be watching for a favourable opportunity;
To be on the look-out. (See Aguets.)
Il est entre deux âges = He is middle-aged.
Il est président d’âge = He is chairman by seniority.
Le bas âge = Infancy.
Le bel âge = Childhood; youth.
[Some idea is generally understood after le bel âge. Thus
“childhood” is not always the right translation. For an author le
bel âge would be after thirty, for a politician later still, and
so on. Chicaneau, in Racine’s Plaideurs, calls sixty le bel âge
pour plaider (i. 7).]
La fleur de l’âge = The prime of life.
Le moyen âge = The Middle Ages.
Il s’agit de... = The question is...; The point is...
Il s’agit de votre vie = Your life is at stake.
Il ne s’agit pas de cela = That is not the point.
Il s’agit bien de cela (ironic.) = That is quite a secondary
consideration.
Qui s’agite s’enrichit = If you wish to get rich, you must work
(hustle); No pains, no gains.
Même à travers l’agonie la passion dominante se fait voir = The
ruling passion is strong in death.
[“Elle a porté ses sentiments jusqu’à l’agonie.”—Bossuet.
“And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath
Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death.”
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 262.]
Il est aux aguets = He is on the watch; He is in ambush. (See
Affût.)
[9]
*Un peu d’aide fait grand bien = Many hands make light work.
Bon droit a besoin d’aide = Even a good cause needs support.
*Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera = God helps those who help
themselves.
[La Fontaine, Fables, vi. 18, Le Chartier embourbé,
copying Régnier, Sat. xiii.:
“Aydez vous seulement et Dieu vous aydera.”
Lat.: Dii facientes adjuvant.
Æschylus, Persae, 742: Σπεύδοντι σαυτῷ χῶ
θεὸς ξυνάψεται.
Sophocles, Camicii, frag. 633, in Dindorf’s edition:
Οὐκ ἐστι τοῖς μή δρῶσι σύμμαχος Τύχη.
Another Greek saying was: Σύν, Αθηνᾷ καὶ χείρα κίνει =
With Minerva on your side, yet use your own hand.
Cromwell is reported to have said at the battle of Dunbar: “Trust
in God, but keep your powder dry.”
The Basques say: “Quoique Dieu soit bon ouvrier, il veut qu’on
l’aide.”]
De fil en aiguille = Bit by bit; One thing leading to another.
[“De propos en propos et de fil en eguille.”—Régnier,
Sat. xiii.]
Raconter de fil en aiguille = To tell the whole matter from the
beginning.
Disputer sur la pointe d’une aiguille = To raise a discussion
on a subject of no importance; To split hairs.
*Chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin = To look for a
needle in a bundle (bottle) of hay.
A dur âne dur aiguillon = In dealing with obstinate natures one
must use severe measures.
Il en a dans l’aile = He is winged (hurt).
Le ministère a du plomb dans l’aile = The ministry is nearing
its end, is winged.
Il ne bat plus que d’une aile = He is almost ruined; He is on
his last legs.
[10]
Voler de ses propres ailes = To act (or, shift) for oneself.
J’en tirerai pied ou aile = I will get something out of it.
[Idiom derived from carving a bird—to get a leg or a wing off it.]
C’est la plus belle plume de son aile (or, le plus beau
fleuron de sa couronne) = It is the finest gem of his crown.
*Qui aime bien châtie bien = Spare the rod and spoil the child.
[Proverbs xiii. 24.]
Aimer quelqu’un comme la prunelle de ses yeux = To love
somebody like the apple of one’s eye.
Quand on n’a pas ce que l’on aime il faut aimer ce que l’on a =
If you cannot get crumb you had best eat crust.
[This sentence is found in a letter from Bussy Rabutin to Madame
de Sévigné, May 23, 1667.
“Quoniam non potest id fieri quod vis, id velis quod
possit.”—Terence, Andria, ii. 1, 6. “When things will
not suit our will, it is well to suit our will to things.”—Arab
proverb.
“Let not what I cannot have
My peace of mind destroy.”
Colley Cibber, The Blind Boy.]
*Qui aime Bertrand, aime son chien = Love me, love my dog.
[“Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.”—S. Bernard, In
Fest. S. Mich. Serm., i. sec. 3.]
*Qui aime bien, tard oublie = True love dies hard.
Qui m’aime me suive = Peril proves who dearly loves.
[Words attributed to Philippe VI. when at a Council during his war
with Flanders, the Connétable de Châtillon alone stood by him,
saying all times were suitable to the brave.]
En plein air; Au grand air = In the open air.
[11]
Être entre deux airs
Être dans un courant d’air |
} |
= To be in a
draught. |
Avoir toujours le pied en l’air = To be always on the go.
Il parle en l’air = He talks without thinking of what he is
saying, at random, not seriously.
Je vais prendre l’air du bureau = I am just going to look in at
the office.
Prendre un air de feu = To go near the fire for a few minutes
to warm oneself.
A votre air on ne vous donnerait pas vingt-cinq ans = From your
looks I should take you for less than five-and-twenty.
Vivre de l’air du temps = To live upon nothing (i.e. to eat
very little).
Elle a quelque chose de votre air = She takes after you; She
looks somewhat like you.
Il a un faux air d’avocat = He looks something like a barrister.
Cela en a tout l’air = It looks uncommonly like it.
Il a un air (or, l’air) comme il faut = He has a very
gentlemanly manner.
C’est de l’algèbre pour lui = It is Greek to him.
[“C’est de l’hébreu pour moi.”—Molière, L’Étourdi,
iii. 3.]
Chercher une querelle d’Allemand = To pick a quarrel about
nothing, without rhyme or reason.
[This saying has been accounted for as follows:—During the
thirteenth century there lived in Dauphiné a very powerful family
of the name of Alleman. They were bound together by close ties
of relationship; and if any one attacked one member of the clan,
he had the whole to reckon with. From the vigour with which they
resented any wrong, no matter how slight, arose the expression
Une querelle d’Alleman. See M. Jules Quicherat’s article on La
famille des Alleman in the Revue historique de la noblesse,
Part vi.]
[12]
*Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin elle se casse = The
pitcher that often goes to the well gets broken at last.
[This has been travestied: Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin
elle s’emplit. The Germans have an equivalent: Der Krug geht so
lange zum Brunnen, bis er bricht.]
*Doucement va bien loin = Fair and softly goes far; Slow and
sure wins the race.
[The Italian equivalent is: Chi va piano va sano e va lontano.
“Qui trop se hâte en cheminant
En beau chemin se fourvoye souvent.”
“On en va mieux quand on va doux.”—La Fontaine, Les
Cordeliers de Catalogne.]
Il y allait du bonheur de ma famille = The happiness of my
family was at stake.
Ce jeune homme ira loin = That young man will make his way in
the world, has a future before him.
Au pis aller = Should the worst come to the worst.
Un pis aller = A makeshift.
Aller son petit bonhomme de chemin = To jog along quietly.
Cela va tout seul = There is no difficulty in the way.
Cela va sans dire = That is a matter of course; It stands to
reason.
Cela va de soi = That follows naturally.
Il ne reviendra pas, allez! = Depend upon it, he will not
return!
Va pour mille francs! = Done! I’ll take £40.
Aller cahin-caha
Aller clopin-clopant |
} |
(lit.) To limp along.
(fig.) To rub along |
| quietly, neither very well nor very ill. |
Elle le fait aller = She makes him do what she likes.
[13]
Le rouge va bien aux brunes = Red suits dark women well.
Allons! = Come, now!
Allons donc! = You are joking.
“Il n’est bois si vert qui ne s’allume” (Clément
Marot) = There is nothing so difficult that cannot be done
in time.
Alors comme alors = Wait till that happens, and then we will
see what is to be done.
Fin comme l’ambre = As sharp as a needle.
[This is said to have originated in the scent of ambergris, which
is of a subtle, penetrating nature.]
Cette preuve est amenée de bien loin = That proof is very
far-fetched.
*Qui prête à l’ami perd au double = “For loan oft loses both
itself and friend.”
[Hamlet, i. 3.]
*On connaît les amis au besoin = A friend in need is a friend
indeed.
[Also: C’est dans le malheur qu’on connaît ses amis.
“Chacun se dit ami, mais fou qui s’y repose
Rien n’est plus commun que le nom
Rien n’est plus rare que la chose.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iv. 17.
“Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.”—Ennius.
“Nihil homini amico est opportuno amicius.”—Plautus.
“Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est fides.”—Phaedrus,
iii. 9.
“Les amis sont comme les parapluies, on ne les a jamais sous la
main quand il pleut.”—Théodore de Banville.
Un véritable ami est un bienfait des dieux.
Prosperity gains friends, adversity tries them.
Friends and mules fail us at hard passes.
In times of prosperity friends will be plenty,
In times of adversity not one in twenty.]
[14]
Mieux vaut ami en voie que denier en courroie = A friend at
court is better than money.
Il ne faut prendre de son ami tout ce qu’on peut = Friends are
like fiddle-strings, they must not be screwed too tight.
“Les amis de l’heure présente
Ont la nature du melon,
Il en faut essayer cinquante
Avant qu’on rencontre un bon.”
Claude Mermet (1550-1605).
= Trust not a new friend nor an old enemy; Acquaintances are
many, but friends are few.
Faites mes amitiés à votre frère = Remember me kindly to your
brother.
Faites-le pour l’amour de moi = Do it for my sake.
L’Amour force toutes les serrures = Love laughs at locksmiths.
Vivre d’amour et d’eau fraîche (or, claire) = To live on
bread and cheese and kisses.
*On revient toujours à ses premières amours = One always
returns to one’s first love; Who loves well, forgets ill.
[C. G. Étienne, Joconde, iii. 1.]
Jamais l’amour ne se paye que par l’amour = Love can neither be
bought nor sold, its only price is love.
[“Amour au cœur me poind
Quand bien-aimé je suis,
Mais aimer je ne puis
Quand on ne m’aime point.
Chacun soit adverti
De faire comme moi,
Car d’aimer sans party
C’est un trop grand esmoy.”
Clément Marot.
Lieb ohne Gegenlieb ist wie eine Frage ohne Antwort.]
[15]
On dirait qu’il le fait pour l’amour du bon Dieu = He does it
with such bad grace that one would say he did it for conscience’
sake.
[“Qui que tu sois, voici ton maître,
Il l’est, le fut, ou le doit être.”
Voltaire, Inscription pour une statue de l’Amour dans
les Jardins de Maisons.
“A l’Amour on résiste en vain;
Qui n’aima jamais aimera demain.”
De Benserade, L’Amour, ed. 1690, p. 234.]
Amuser le tapis = To talk a great deal without coming to the
point; To talk time away.
Ne vous amusez pas en route = Do not lose an instant on the way.
Je m’en moque comme de l’an quarante = I don’t care a straw for
it.
[There was a superstition that the world would come to an end in
1040; after it had passed, this saying arose. The French also say
“Je m’en moque comme de Colin-tampon.” Colin-tampon is the name
given to the Swiss roll of the drum; and as the other soldiers in
the French army paid no attention to it out of jealousy and esprit
de corps, this saying arose. Another variant is “Je m’en soucie
autant qu’un poisson d’une pomme.”]
Bon an, mal an = One year with another; On an average.
Ressembler à l’âne de Buridan = Not to know what to do.
[Jean Buridan was a dialectician of the fourteenth century, and
Rector of the University of Paris. One of his most famous dilemmas
was that of the donkey equally hungry and thirsty, which was
placed halfway between a pail of water and a load of hay. If the
animal had no free-will, it would remain motionless between two
equal attractions, and so die of hunger and thirst.]
Contes de Peau d’Âne = Nursery tales.
[A name derived from a tale of Perrault, in which the heroine is
so called.]
[16]
Pour un point (or, Faute d’un point) Martin perdit son âne
= For want of a nail the shoe was lost (or, the miller lost his
mare); Be careful of trifles.
[This is said of a person who loses something valuable through a
trifle. The Abbey of Asello (Latin asellus = little ass) was
taken from the Abbot Martin on account of his punctuation of a
sentence over the gateway. Instead of: Porta patens esto, nulli
claudaris honesto (Gate be open, and be closed to no honest
man), he punctuated: Porta patens esto nulli, claudaris honesto
(Gate, be open to none, be closed to an honest man). His successor
corrected the mistake, and added: Uno pro puncto caruit Martinus
Asello.]
Il fait l’âne pour avoir du son = He simulates stupidity to
gain some material advantage.
Brider un âne par la queue = To do anything in exactly the
wrong manner; To get hold of the wrong end of the stick.
Il n’y a point d’âne plus mal bâté que celui du commun = What
is everybody’s business is nobody’s business.
[Walton, Compleat Angler, Part i. chap. ii.]
Être aux anges = To be delighted, in raptures, in the seventh
heaven.
Un ange bouffi = A chubby child.
Échapper comme une anguille = To be as slippery as an eel.
Quand on veut trop serrer l’anguille, elle s’échappe = “Much
would have more and lost all”; He who is too greedy loses
everything. (See Embrasser.)
Vouloir rompre l’anguille au genou = To attempt an
impossibility.
Il est comme l’anguille de Melun (more correctly, Languille de
Melun), il crie avant qu’on l’écorche = He is like the eel of
Melun, he cries out before he is hurt.
[An actor, called Languille, was once acting the part of St.
Bartholomew at Melun, when he was so frightened at the entry of
the executioner to flay him alive, that he rushed off the stage
yelling.]
[17]
Il y a quelque anguille sous roche = There is a snake in the
grass; I can smell a rat.
[Lat. Latet anguis in herba.]
Société anonyme = Limited Liability Company (because the names
of the shareholders are unknown to the public).
Faire danser l’anse (or, le manche) du panier = To
make dishonest profits on marketing (of servants); To gain a
market-penny.
Faire le pot (or, panier) à deux anses = To put one’s arms
akimbo.
[Often said of a gentleman who has a lady on each arm.]
“Où sont les neiges d’antan?” = Where are the snows of
yester-year?
[Antan is an old French word derived from ante and annus. The
quotation is the refrain of François Villon’s famous “Ballade des
Dames du temps jadis.”]
C’est un apache (pop.) = He is a hooligan.
C’est un apothicaire sans sucre = He is unprovided with the
necessities of his profession.
[Druggists in France formerly sold sugar which they used almost in
every preparation. Hence one who had no sugar was badly stocked.]
Faire le bon apôtre = To put on a saintly look; To pretend to
be holy.
[“Tout Picard que j’étais, j’étais un bon apôtre Et je faisais
claquer mon fouet tout comme un autre.”
Racine, Plaideurs, i. 1.]
Pour sauver les apparences = For the sake of appearances.
Selon toute apparence = In all probability.
A tous ceux qu’il appartiendra (legal) = To all whom it may
concern.
*C’est un trop vieux poisson pour mordre à l’appât = He is too
old a bird to be caught with chaff.
[18]
Faire l’appel = To call the roll.
Manquer à l’appel = To be missing, absent.
Battre l’appel = To call to arms.
Il appelle les choses par leur nom = He calls a spade a spade.
[“J’appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet un
fripon.”—Boileau, Satires, i. 52.]
Voilà ce que j’appelle pleuvoir = This is what I call raining
with a vengeance.
Bon appétit = Good appetite; I hope you will enjoy your meal.
*L’appétit vient en mangeant = One leg of mutton helps down
another; The more one has the more one wants; Begin to eat,
you’ll soon be hungry.
[“As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on.”
Hamlet, i. 2.
“L’appétit vient en mangeant, disait Angeston, mais la soif s’en
va en buvant.”—Rabelais, Gargantua, i.]
*Il n’est chère que d’appétit = Hunger is the best sauce.
[“Ἡ ἐπιθυμία τοῦ σίτου ὄψον.”
Xenophon, Cyrop. i. 5, 12.]
*Pain dérobé réveille appétit = Stolen joys are sweet.
Les malheurs s’apprennent bien vite = Ill news flies fast
(or, apace).
Vous apprendrez avec plaisir.... = You will be glad to hear....
*Ce n’est pas à un vieux singe qu’on apprend à faire des
grimaces (fam.) = One does not teach one’s grandmother to suck
eggs. (See Remontrer.)
[The Greek equivalent was, “To teach an eagle to fly,” or “to
teach a dolphin to swim.”—Zenob. ii. 49.
The Romans said, “Sus Minervam docet.” Cf. Cicero, De
Oratore, ii. 57.]
[19]
*Apprenti n’est pas maître = One must not expect from a
beginner the talent of an old hand; You must spoil before you
spin.
Mur à hauteur d’appui = A wall breast high (so that one may
lean against it).
Faites la proposition, j’irai à l’appui de la boule = You make
the proposal, and I will support it.
[This idiom comes from the game of bowls, when by hitting your
partner’s ball you may drive it nearer the goal, though unable to
approach yourself.]
Vous vous appuyez sur un roseau = You are trusting to a broken
reed.
*Après lui il faut tirer l’échelle = One cannot do better than
he has; No one can come up to him in that; That takes the cake.
[Comp. Molière, Médecin malgré lui, ii. 1.]
*Jeter le manche après la cognée = To throw the helve after the
hatchet; To give up in despair.
*Après nous le déluge = A short life and a merry one; We need
not bother about what will happen after we are gone.
[These words were attributed to Madame de Pompadour
(1721-1764) in reply to those who remonstrated with her for
her extravagance—“When I am gone, the deluge may come for
all I care.” (See Desprez, Essai sur la Marquise de
Pompadour, a preface to his Mémoirs de Madame du Hausset.)
The same idea occurs in the Greek proverb quoted by Cicero (De
Finibus, iii. 19), “Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί.” Milton suggests Tiberius as saying, “When
I die, let the earth be rolled in flames.”—Reason of Church
Government, i. 5.]
Avoir une araignée dans le (or, au) plafond = To have a bee
in one’s bonnet.
*Entre l’arbre et l’écorce il ne faut pas mettre le doigt = One
must not interfere in other people’s quarrels.
[This proverb has been travestied by Molière, who makes Sganarelle
say: “Apprenez que Cicéron dit qu’entre l’arbre et le doigt il ne
faut pas mettre l’écorce.”—Le Médecin malgré lui, i. 2.]
[20]
L’arbre ne tombe pas au premier coup = Everything requires time
and exertion; Rome was not built in a day.
Quand l’arbre est tombé tout le monde court aux branches = When
the tree falls every one goeth to it with his hatchet.
Il s’est toujours tenu au gros de l’arbre = He has always sided
with the stronger side.
Débander l’arc ne guérit pas la plaie = To cease doing mischief
does not undo the harm one has done.
Être ferme sur les arçons = (lit.) To have a firm seat in the
saddle; (fig.) Not to waver in one’s principles.
Il a vidé les arçons = He was unhorsed.
L’argent est un bon passe-partout = Gold goes in at any gate,
except heaven.
[“Amour fait moult
Mais argent fait tout.”]
Être cousu d’argent = To be made of money; To be rolling in
riches.
Il est chargé d’argent comme un crapaud de plumes = He is
penniless.
Y aller bon jeu bon argent = To set about a thing in earnest.
*Point d’argent, point de Suisse = No money, no Swiss; No pay,
no piper.
[In the Middle Ages the Swiss were the chief mercenaries of
Europe, and occasionally had to resort to severe measures to
obtain their pay. Compare Racine, Plaideurs, i. 1.
One day when the Swiss were asking for their pay from the king
the French Prime Minister said: “The money we have given these
Swiss would pave a road from Paris to Basle.” To which the Swiss
commander replied: “And the blood we have shed for France would
fill a river from Basle to Paris!”]
Payer argent comptant = To pay ready money; To pay in hard cash.
[Synonyms are: En beaux deniers comptants or, en espèces
sonnantes et trébuchantes.]
[21]
Prendre quelque chose pour argent comptant = To take something
for gospel.
Je suis à court d’argent (fam. à sec) = I am short of money
(fam. hard up, broke).
*Qui n’a pas argent en bourse, ait miel en bouche = He who has
not silver in his purse should have honey on his tongue.
*Argent emprunté porte tristesse = He who goes a-borrowing goes
a-sorrowing.
Représenter les armes de Bourges = To look stupid.
[The arms of Bourges are an ass sitting in an armchair.]
Les armes sont journalières = Victory is fickle.
On se l’arrache = (of persons) He is the rage; (of things)
There is a regular scramble for it.
Mentir comme un arracheur de dents = To lie unblushingly; To
lie like an epitaph.
Comme vous voilà arrangé! = What a sight you look!
Je l’ai arrangé de la bonne manière = I gave him what he richly
deserved.
Arrangez-vous = That is your business; Settle it among
yourselves.
Mettre un officier aux arrêts = To put an officer under arrest.
Garder les arrêts = To keep to one’s quarters.
Lever les arrêts = To release from arrest.
C’est un homme qui arrivera = He is sure to get on in the world.
*Un malheur n’arrive jamais seul = Misfortunes never come
singly; It never rains but it pours.
*Cela arrive comme marée en carême = That comes just in the
nick of time (lit. as sea-fish in Lent). See Carême.
[22]
Être à l’article de la mort (or, à l’agonie) = To be at
death’s door.
[Lat. In articulo mortis.]
*Qui se ressemble, s’assemble = Birds of a feather flock
together; Like will to like.
Il n’est pas dans son assiette = He is not in his normal state
of mind; He is out of sorts; He is not up to the mark.
Son assiette dîne pour lui = He pays for his dinner whether he
is present or not.
C’est un casseur d’assiettes = He is a swaggerer (a Mohock, in
eighteenth century parlance).
C’est un pique-assiette = He is a parasite, a sponge.
L’assiette des impôts = The assessment of taxes.
Le pauvre homme est toujours (comme un chien) à l’attache =
The poor man is a very slave, is compelled to work hard and
constantly.
*Attacher le grelot = To bell the cat.
[La Fontaine, Conseil tenu par les rats. For an
explanation of the phrase see Grelot.]
*Attaquer le taureau par les cornes = To seize the bull by the
horns.
Porter atteinte (à l’honneur de) = To sully (the fair name of).
Porter atteinte (aux droits de) = To infringe (the rights of).
C’est une charrette mal attelée = They are a badly-matched pair.
Une question n’attendait pas l’autre = Question quickly
followed after question.
Je m’y attendais = That is just what I expected.
[23]
Attendez-vous-y = You may depend upon it; (or, ironic.) Don’t
you wish you may get it!
*Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre = Everything comes to
the man who waits; Time and patience change the mulberry leaf
into a silk gown.
On peut s’attendre à tout, surtout à l’inattendu = One may
expect anything, especially the unexpected.
Attrape qui peut! = Scramble for it!
Attrape! = 1. Catch! 2. Take that! 3. It serves you right.
Audience à huis clos = A case heard in camera.
Les hommes ne se mesurent pas à l’aune = Men are not to be
judged by their size.
[M. Thiers, who was very short, used to say: “Les liqueurs
précieuses se conservent dans de petits flacons” = Rich wares in
small parcels.]
Savoir ce qu’en vaut l’aune = To know a thing to one’s cost.
Mesurer les autres à son aune = To measure other people’s peck
by one’s own bushel.
Tout le long de l’aune = By the yard; Plenty of it.
*Travail d’aurore amène l’or = Early to bed and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
[The late H. Stacy Marks, R.A., parodied this: “Early to bed and
early to rise, No use—unless you advertise.”
The German equivalent is, “Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund”—The
morning hour has gold in its mouth.
This is also found in Italian: “Le ore del mattino hanno l’oro in
bocca.”]
Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait = No sooner said than done.
Cela est fini ou autant vaut = It is as good as finished.
[24]
*Autant de têtes, autant d’avis = So many men, so many minds.
[“Quot homines, tot sententiæ.”—Terence, Phormio, ii.
4. Also: “Autant de gens, autant de sens.”]
Autant lui en pend au nez (or, à l’oreille) = He will get
just the same (in bad sense).
Autant vaut être mordu d’un chien que d’une chienne = One evil
is as bad as the other.
Autant dire mille francs = We may as well say £40. (See
Aller.)
Autant vaut celui qui tient que celui qui écorche = The
receiver is as bad as the thief.
[A hexameter of Phocylides says:
ἀμφότεροι κλῶπες, καὶ ὁ δεξάμενος καὶ ὁ κλέψας.]
C’est toujours autant de gagné = That’s always so much to the
good. (See Prendre.)
*Qui sert à l’autel doit vivre de l’autel = Every man must live
by his profession.
Il en prendrait sur l’autel = He would rob a church.
Tourner autour du pot = To beat about the bush.
[German: “Wie die Katze um den Brei laufen.”]
Il ne faut pas confondre autour avec alentour = One must not
mix up two things entirely different.
[The gamin of Paris adds to this saying: “ni intelligence avec
gendarme.”]
Comme dit l’autre = As the saying is.
[Or: Comme on dit.]
Nous parlions de choses et d’autres = We were speaking of
different things.
C’est tout un ou tout autre = It is either one thing or the
other.
L’un vaut l’autre = One is as bad as the other.
[25]
Il en sait bien d’autres = He knows more than one trick.
C’est une autre paire de manches = That is quite another thing;
That is a horse of another colour.
Il n’en fait pas d’autres = That is always the way with him; He
is at it again.
Allez conter cela à d’autres = Tell that to the marines.
[Often shortened to “À d’autres.”]
Nous autres Anglais sommes très réservés = We English are very
reserved.
[“Nous autres ignorants estions perdus si ce livre ne nous eust
relevé du bourbier.” Montaigne, Essais, ii. 4, speaking
of Amyot’s translation of Plutarch.]
*Autres temps, autres mœurs = Manners change with the times.
J’en ai vu bien d’autres = I have outlived worse things than
that.
Faire avaler des couleuvres à quelqu’un = To say very
humiliating things to a man who, on account of his inferior
position, is obliged to put up with them; To make any one swallow
a bitter pill.
Votre montre avance de dix minutes = Your watch is ten minutes
fast.
[Compare: “Votre montre retarde de dix minutes” = Your watch is
ten minutes slow.]
Cela m’avance bien! (ironic.) = What good is that to me?
Vous voilà bien avancé! (ironic.) = Here you are in a pretty
mess! What good have you gained by that?
Je n’en suis pas plus avancé = I am none the wiser (or,
nearer).
Vous allez trop avant = You are going too far.
Ils sont arrivés bien avant dans la nuit = They arrived very
late at night.
[26]
*A père avare, enfant prodigue = A miserly father has a
spendthrift son.
[“A femme avare, galant escroc.”
La Fontaine, Contes,ii.]
Avec ça! (colloquial) = Nonsense!
*Un bon averti (or, prévenu) en vaut deux = A man well
warned is twice a man; Forewarned, forearmed.
C’est un homme sans aveu = He is a vagabond.
[In feudal times a vassal had to make an avowal to his lord of
the lands he held, placing them under his lord’s protection. A man
who had no property could not do so.]
*Rien ne soulage comme un aveu sincère = Open confession is
good for the soul.
Crier comme un aveugle (qui a perdu son bâton or, son
chien) = To yell with all one’s might.
[A variant is: Crier comme un sourd, although deaf people
generally speak very quietly.]
Il est toujours du bon avis = His opinion is always good.
Il y a jour d’avis = There is no hurry; There is plenty of time
for consideration.
*Avis au lecteur = A note to the reader; A word to the wise;
Verb. sap.
(Il) m’est avis qu’il cherche à vous tromper = Somehow I think
he wants to deceive you.
*Deux avis valent mieux qu’un = Two heads are better than one.
[The Greeks said: εἷς ἀνήρ, οὐδεὶς ἀνήρ = One man, no man.]
Sauf avis contraire = Unless I hear (or, write) to the
contrary.
C’est un avisé compère = He is a cunning fellow.
On y avisera = We will see to it.
[27]
Il ne s’avise jamais de rien = He never thinks of anything; He
has no initiative.
On ne s’avise jamais de tout = One never thinks of everything.
Ne vous en avisez pas = You had better not.
Un fou avise bien un sage = Good advice often comes whence we
do not expect it.
Un verre de vin avise bien un homme = A glass of wine puts wit
into a man.
[The French use avoir frequently where we use to be, as
in—Avoir faim, soif, chaud, froid, raison, tort,
pitié, honte, peur, soin, besoin, mal = To be hungry,
thirsty, hot, cold, right, wrong, sorry, ashamed, afraid, careful,
in want, ill.]
J’aurai raison de son entêtement = I will master his obstinacy.
J’en ai bien envie = I should like it very much.
Elle n’a pour tout bien que sa beauté = She has nothing but her
beauty in her favour; Her face is her fortune.
J’en ai pour deux heures = I shall be two hours over it.
J’en ai pour six mois à m’ennuyer = I am looking forward to
(or, in for) six months’ boredom.
Vous avez la parole = It is your turn to speak.
Vous avez la main = It’s your turn to play (at cards).
Vous avez le dé = It’s your turn to play (at dice).
Il ne fera cela qu’autant que vous l’aurez pour agréable = He
will never think of doing it if you object to it.
Avoir de quoi (pop.) = To be in easy circumstances.
J’ai de quoi payer = I have enough money to pay.
[28]
Il y a de quoi = (lit.) There is good reason; (ironic.) There
is no reason.
Je vous demande pardon.—Il n’y a pas de quoi = I beg your
pardon.—Pray do not mention it.
J’ai beau dire, il en fera à sa tête = It is of no use my
talking, he will do as he likes.
C’est un homme que j’ai dans la main = He is a man I hold in
the hollow of my hand, i.e. I can make him do what I like.
Qu’avez vous? J’ai que je m’ennuie = What is the matter with
you? The matter is that I am bored to death.
Vous en aurez = You will catch it.
Contre qui en avez-vous? = Against whom have you a grudge?
Il n’est rien de tel que d’en avoir = There is nothing like
money to make one respected.
Quand il n’y en a plus, il y en a encore = The thing is
inexhaustible; It is easy to get more.
Il n’y a qu’à pleuvoir = It may happen to rain; What if it
rains?
Je vais lui dire cela.—Non, il n’aurait qu’à se fâcher = I
will tell him that.—No, don’t, he might get angry.
C’est un homme comme il n’y en a point = He is a man who has
not his match; There is no equal to him.
En avril
Ne te découvre pas d’un fil
= Change not a clout
Till May be out.
[En mai
Fais ce qu’il te plaît.]
[29]
B.
Être marqué au b = To be either hump-backed, one-eyed, lame, or
a stutterer.
[i.e. bossu, borgne, boiteux, ou bègue.]
Bâcler son ouvrage = To do one’s work quickly and badly; To
“polish off” (or, scamp) one’s work.
[Also: travailler à dépêche-compagnon.]
*“On ne badine pas avec l’amour” = Love is not to be trifled
with.
[This is the title of one of Alfred de Musset’s Proverbes. See
Porte.]
Quel est le bagage de cet auteur? = What works has that author
written? What is that author’s output?
Plier bagage = To pack up and be off.
Bagatelles que tout cela = That is all stuff and nonsense.
Vive la bagatelle! = Away with care!
Cette place est une bague au doigt = That position is a
sinecure.
[C’est une bague au doigt is said of any advantageous possession
of which one can dispose easily. Quitard derives it from the
custom of the seller of land giving to the purchaser as his title
a ring on which both had sworn.]
Mener les gens à la baguette = To rule men with a rod of iron;
To be a martinet.
Il y a toujours l’un qui baise et l’autre qui tend la joue =
Love is never exactly reciprocal.
[Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5.]
Baisser l’oreille = To look confused (or, sheepish.)
[From the action of dogs when expecting a beating.]
[30]
Ma vue baisse = I am getting short-sighted; My sight is failing.
[In this sense baisser means to weaken, and is also used of
moral and intellectual qualities, as: le sens moral a baissé,
ma mémoire baisse.]
Il a donné tête baissée dans le piège (panneau) = He ran
headlong into the trap.
Je lui ai fait baisser les yeux = I stared him out of
countenance.
Il n’a qu’à se baisser pour en prendre = He has only to stoop
and pick it up; He has merely to ask for it to get it.
*Il n’est rien de tel que balai neuf = A new broom sweeps clean.
On lui a donné du balai = They gave him the sack (i.e.
dismissed him).
Donner un coup de balai = To make a clean sweep.
Faire pencher la balance = To turn the scale.
Il n’y a pas à balancer = We must not hesitate, but act.
Une balle perdue = A wasted shot; A useless effort.
Une balle morte = A spent ball.
A vous la balle = It is now your turn to act.
Renvoyer la balle = To return the compliment.
Prendre la balle au bond = Not to miss an opportunity; To take
time by the forelock; To make hay while the sun shines.
[Also: Prendre l’occasion aux cheveux.
Compare:
“Rem tibi quam nosces, aptam dimittere noli;
Fronte capillata post est Occasio calva.”
Cato, Distichs, ii. 26.
“Her lockes, that loathly were and hoarie grey,
Grew all afore, and loosely hong unrold,
But all behind was bald, and worne away
That none thereof could ever taken hold.”
Spenser, Faerie Queene, ii. 4, 4.
[31]
“Occasion turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks
in front and no hold taken.”
Bacon, Essays, xxi.
“Remember the old adage and make use o’t,
Occasion’s bald behind.”
Massinger, Guardian, iv. 1.]
Il s’en acquittera bien, c’est un enfant de la balle = He will
do it well, he is his father’s son.
[Originally this was applied to children of tennis-players, but
now to all who follow the profession of their fathers.]
Il lança un ballon d’essai avant de produire son grand ouvrage
= He sent out a feeler before publishing his great work.
Le roi convoqua le ban et l’arrière-ban = The king assembled
all his dependants.
[Le ban were the king’s direct vassals, such as earls, barons,
and knights; l’arrière-ban were the king’s indirect vassals,
or the vassals of vassals. “A proclamation whereby all (except
some privileged officers and citizens) that hold their lands
of the Crowne, are summoned to meet at a certaine place, there
to attend the King whithersoever and against whomsoever he
goes.”—Cotgrave.]
Faire bande à part = Not to mix with other people.
[In Parliamentary parlance, “to form a cave” (of Adullam).]
Jouer devant les banquettes = (of actors) To play to empty
benches.
Se faire la barbe = To shave.
Rire dans sa barbe = To laugh in one’s sleeve.
[See Cape. This is used always of men, whereas rire sous cape
is used chiefly of women.]
Je le lui dirai à sa barbe = I will say it to his face.
Je lui ferai la barbe quand il voudra = I will show him who is
master whenever he likes.
Vous arrivez trop tard, la barre est tirée = You are too late,
the line is drawn, the list is closed.
[32]
Je ne fais que toucher barres = I am off again immediately.
J’ai barres sur lui = I have an advantage over him; I have the
whip-hand (the pull) over him.
[Expressions taken from the game of barres, or prisoner’s base.]
*A porte basse, passant courbé = One must bow to circumstances.
Il se retira l’oreille basse = He went away with his tail
between his legs.
Les vainqueurs firent main basse sur les biens des habitants =
The victors pillaged the town.
Rester chapeau bas = To stand hat in hand.
Il m’a traité de haut en bas = He treated me contemptuously.
Vous ne savez pas où le bât le blesse = You do not know where
the shoe pinches him.
[“Je sçay mieux où le bas me blesse.” Maistre Pierre Pathelin,
l. 1357. Bât = pack-saddle. Compare the German: Jeder weiss am
besten wo ihn der Schuh drückt.
The phrase first appears in Plutarch’s Life of Æmilius
Paullus. A certain Roman having forsaken his wife, her friends
fell out with him and asked what fault he found in her; was she
not faithful and fair, and had she not borne him many beautiful
children? He replied by putting forth his foot and saying: “Is not
this a goodly shoe? Is it not finely made, and is it not new? And
yet I dare say there is not one of you can tell where it pinches
me.”]
Inconnu au bataillon (fam.) = I don’t know him; No one knows
him.
C’était une bataille rangée = It was a pitched battle.
Cet argument est son cheval de bataille = That argument is his
stronghold; That is his great argument.
[33]
Arriver en trois bateaux = To come with great fuss, in great
state, with unnecessary ceremony.
[This expression is usually used sarcastically; it originates
from great personages or rich merchant-men being accompanied
by ships of war. Compare Rabelais, i. 16, and La
Fontaine, Fables, ix. 3. Le léopard et le singe qui
gagnent de l’argent à la foire.]
Il travaille à bâtons rompus = He works by fits and starts.
Conversation à bâtons rompus = Desultory talk.
Il cherchait à nous mettre des bâtons dans les roues = He tried
to put a spoke in our wheel.
Le tour du bâton = Perquisites, illicit profits.
Ce sera mon bâton de vieillesse = He will be my support
(consolation) in my old age.
Il lui a battu froid = He gave him the cold shoulder.
[Comp. “Majorum ne quis amicus frigore te
feriat.”—Horace, Sat., ii. 1.]
Battre la campagne = 1. (lit.) To scour the country. 2. (fig.)
To talk nonsense. 3. (of invalids) To wander. 4. To beat about
the bush.
Battre la breloque (berloque) = To talk nonsense.
Battre le pavé = 1. To loaf about. 2. To wander about in search
for work.
Tout battant neuf = All brand new.
Battre le chien devant le loup = To pretend to be angry with
one person to deceive another.
Avoir les yeux battus = To look tired about the eyes.
La fête battait son plein = The entertainment was at its
height.
[34]
Battre quelqu’un à plate couture = To beat some one hollow.
[Literally, to beat some one so hard and thoroughly, as to flatten
the seams (coutures) of his coat.]
*Les battus payent l’amende = The weakest go to the wall; Those
who lose pay.
L’un bat les buissons et l’autre prend les oiseaux = One does
the work and the other reaps the advantage; One man starts the
game and another kills it.
*Autant vaut bien battu que mal battu = As well be hanged for a
sheep as a lamb; In for a penny, in for a pound. (See Chien.)
Je n’ai pas foi dans son baume = I have no faith in his plan.
Quand les femmes sont ensemble, elles taillent des bavettes
à n’en plus finir = When women get together they indulge in
endless gossip.
Coucher à la belle étoile = To sleep out of doors.
Déchirer quelqu’un à belles dents = To criticise some one
mercilessly; To tear a person’s reputation to shreds.
Il fera beau quand je retournerai chez lui = It will be a very
fine day when I go to his house again (i.e. I shall never go).
Voir tout en beau = To see everything through rose-coloured
spectacles. (See Noir.)
Faire le beau = (of dogs) To beg.
Il y a beau temps que je ne vous ai (pas) vu = I have not
seen you for many a day.
J’en entends de belles sur votre compte = I hear nice goings-on
of you.
Il en a fait de belles = He played nice tricks (ironic).
Il vous en conte de belles = He is telling you fine tales; He
is taking you in finely.
[35]
Vous me la donnez (or, baillez) belle (ironic.) = A pretty
tale you are telling me; Aren’t you stuffing me up nicely?
Ce que vous proposez est bel et bon, mais je n’en ferai rien =
What you propose is all very fine, but I shall do no such thing.
Être dans de beaux draps = To be in a pretty pickle (ironic).
Vous l’avez échappé belle = You have had a narrow escape (or,
shave).
Il a beau parler, il ne me convaincra pas = It is of no use for
him to speak, he will not convince me; Let him say what he will,
he will not convince me.
[The origin of this use of beau is obscure. Larousse suggests
the origin may be in the idea of having a fine field for
operations, which will be of no value, as our: “it is all very
fine for me to speak.”]
Il recommença de plus belle = He began again worse than ever.
Vous avez beau jeu = 1. (lit.) You have good cards. 2. (fig.)
You have the advantage.
*La belle plume fait le bel oiseau = Fine feathers make fine
birds.
Se mettre au beau = (of the weather) To clear up.
Jouer la belle = To play the rubber (or third game, to see
which of the players is the conqueror).
*Beaucoup de bruit pour rien = Much ado about nothing.
La beauté ne se mange pas en salade = Beauty does not fill the
larder; Prettiness makes no pottage.
Il m’a tenu le bec dans l’eau = He kept me in suspense.
[36]
C’est un homme qui ne se laisse pas passer la plume par le bec
= He is a man not easily taken in.
[Clerks bet a newcomer that he cannot write with a pen in his
mouth. On his endeavouring to do so, they pull the pen sharply
through his lips, thus inking his face. “Qu’on me fasse passer la
plume par le bec.” Molière, Les Femmes Savantes, iii.
6.]
C’est un blanc bec = He is a beardless boy, greenhorn.
“Souffrez que je lui montre son bec jaune” = Allow me to show
him he is a silly goose.
[Molière, Le Malade Imaginaire, iii. 17. Bec jaune or
béjaune is an allusion to young birds whose beaks are generally
yellow.]
Il a bec et ongles = He knows how to defend himself.
Avoir bon bec (fam.) = To be a chatterbox; To speak well; To be
able to answer back.
[“Il n’est bon bec que de Paris” is the refrain of Villon’s
“Ballade des Femmes de Paris.”]
C’est une bécasse = She is a goose.
Bêcher quelqu’un (fam.) = To pick a person to pieces.
Sous (or, par) bénéfice d’inventaire = 1. (lit. in a legal
sense) Without prejudice. 2. (fig.) Only to a certain point,
conditionally, for what it is worth, with a pinch of salt.
[e.g. Il faut croire ce conte sous bénéfice d’inventaire. The
origin of the legal phrase arose from the fact that an inheritor
is liable for the debts of the deceased only in proportion to his
inheritance, which is verified by the inventory. Thus, if the
debts are more than the inheritance, a sole heir would decline to
inherit at all.
Compare:
“Un païen, qui sentait quelque peu le fagot
Et qui croyait en Dieu, pour user de ce mot,
Par bénéfice d’inventaire.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iv. 19.]
Il faut prendre le bénéfice avec les charges = One must take
the rough with the smooth.
[37]
J’ai été bercé de cela = I have heard that from my cradle.
Bon berger tond mais n’écorche pas = We may use but not abuse
our subordinates.
Avoir la berlue (fam.) = To see things which do not exist; To
have a wrong idea of anything.
Aimer la besogne faite = To hate work; To like to get work over.
Abattre de la besogne = To get through a great deal of work.
*On connaît les amis au besoin = A friend in need is a friend
indeed. (See Ami.)
*On a souvent besoin d’un plus petit que soi = A mouse may be
of service to a lion.
[La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 11.]
*Morte la bête, mort le venin = Dead dogs cannot bite; Dead men
tell no tales.
Cet homme est ma bête noire (mon cauchemar) = That man is my
pet aversion; I hate the very sight of that man.
Pas si bête = Not so green, foolish.
Il est bête à manger du foin = He is a perfect idiot.
[Also: bête comme (un) chou, une oie, un pot, une cruche.]
*Qui se fait bête, le loup le mange = If one is too confiding,
one is imposed upon. (See Brebis.)
C’est une bonne bête (or, la bête du bon Dieu) = He is a
good-natured fellow (not over-clever).
Une bête à bon Dieu (or, bête à Dieu) = A ladybird.
Plus fin que lui n’est pas bête = It would take a smart man to
deceive him.
[38]
On ne peut manier le beurre qu’on ne se graisse les doigts =
One cannot touch pitch without soiling one’s fingers; If you have
to do with money, some will stick.
[“But I think they that touch pitch will be defiled.” Much Ado
about Nothing, iii. 3.]
Il faut faire son beurre = One must make a profit; One must
feather one’s nest.
Ça entre comme dans du beurre = (fig.) It is as easy as
anything.
*Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien = Leave well alone.
Grand bien vous fasse = Much good may it do you.
Le navire a péri corps et biens = The ship went down with all
hands on board.
Il a du bien au soleil = He has landed property.
Ils sont séparés de corps et de biens = They have had a
judicial separation (a mensa et thoro).
Tout va bien = It is all right.
C’est bien fait = It serves you (him, her) right.
C’est bien lui = That’s he all over.
On y est très bien = The accommodation there is very good.
Je suis très bien ici = I am quite comfortable here.
*Qui est bien qu’il s’y tienne = Rest content where thou art;
Better dry bread at home than roast meat abroad.
Cet homme est très bien = He is a gentleman.
Mener une entreprise à bien = To bring an affair to a
successful issue.
Il est sur son bien-dire = He is on his best behaviour; He
minds his p’s and q’s.
Nous voilà bien (ironic.) = Here is a nice state of things.
[39]
Il ne faut attendre son bien que de soi-même = Always rely on
yourself.
Le bien lui vient en dormant = He becomes rich without any
trouble.
Tant bien que mal = So-so; Neither well nor ill; After a
fashion. (See Tant.)
Cela est bientôt dit = That is easier said than done.
Ne pas se faire de bile (fam.) = To take things easily.
Un billet de faire part = A letter by which a birth, marriage,
or death is made known to friends.
[Cards are used in England for marriages and deaths.]
Un billet doux = A love letter.
*Ah! le bon billet qu’a La Châtre = Promises are like
pie-crust, made to be broken.
[The Marquis de la Châtre was the lover of the celebrated Ninon de
l’Enclos (1616-1706). When he was obliged to go off to the wars,
he made her write him a letter promising to remain faithful to
him. On taking another lover, she remembered the letter she had
written, and uttered these words, which have become proverbial for
any worthless promise.]
J’ai passé une nuit blanche = I have not slept a wink all night.
Dire tantôt blanc, tantôt noir = To say first one thing and
then another.
Se manger le blanc des yeux = To have a furious quarrel.
*Rouge le soir et blanc le matin,
C’est la journée du pèlerin =
Red at night is the shepherd’s delight,
Red in the morning, the shepherd’s warning.
Evening red and morning gray
Are two sure signs of a fine day.
Manger son blé en herbe = To anticipate one’s revenue.
[40]
J’en suis tout bleu (fam.) = Well! I am surprised.
En bloc = In the mass, in the lump.
Plus il boit, plus il a soif = Ever drunk, ever dry.
*Qui a bu n’a point de secrets = When wine sinks, words swim;
In vino veritas; Drink washes off the daub, and discovers the
man; What the sober man has in his heart, the drunkard has on his
lips.
[“La vérité sort mieux d’un tonneau que d’un puits.”
Augier, L’Aventurière, ii. 4.]
*Le vin est tiré, il faut le boire = You have gone too far now
to draw back; In for a penny, in for a pound.
[At the siege of Douai in 1667, Louis XIV. found himself
unexpectedly under a heavy cannonade from the besieged city. In
compliance with the entreaties of those around him, who urged
him not to risk so important a life, he was about to retire in
a somewhat unsoldierly and unkingly fashion, when M. de Charost
rode up and whispered this proverb in his ear. The king remained
exposed to the fire of the enemy for a suitable time, and held in
higher honour the counsellor who had saved him from an unseemly
retreat.—Trench. “Le vin est tiré, Monsieur, il faut le
boire” is a line in Regnard’s Joueur, iii. 2.]
Ce n’est pas la mer à boire = That is no very difficult matter.
Il boit du lait (fam.) = He is satisfied, happy.
*Qui a bu boira = Habit is second nature; If you take to the
habit of drinking you cannot get rid of it.
[“Et quiconque a joué, toujours joue et jouera.” Regnard,
Le Joueur, iv. 1.]
Boire comme un trou (une éponge) = To drink like a fish.
Boire un bouillon (lit.) = To swallow water (when swimming); To
swallow a bitter pill; To lose a lot of money.
Boire sec = To drink hard; To drink wine neat (without adding
water).
[41]
Boire le calice jusqu’à la lie = To drink the cup to the dregs.
Il boirait la mer et ses poissons = Nothing can assuage his
thirst.
Croyez cela et buvez de l’eau (fam.) = Do not believe that, I
know it is not true; Surely you are not simple enough to believe
that!
*Qui fait la faute la boit = As you have brewed, so you must
drink; As you have sown, so you must reap; As you make your bed,
so you must lie on it.
Boire à tire-larigot = To drink excessively.
[The origin of this expression is obscure. Larousse gives the
following explanation, adding that it was probably invented to
explain the saying, as it can be found in no ancient author.
“Odo Rigaud was formerly Archbishop of Rouen, and in celebration
of his appointment he had a huge bell cast for his cathedral in
1282. This bell was called after him la Rigaud. After ringing
this bell, the bellringers required much wine to refresh them;
hence boire à tire larigot, or la Rigaud, meant to drink
like one who has been ringing a heavy bell.” Littré favours the
derivation from larigot, or arigot, a little flute, and then
the expression would be analogous to flûter, a popular word
for boire. But probably the correct explanation is that of
Sainte-Palaye, who says that a later meaning of arigot was the
tap of a cask, so that this being pulled out, one could drink
more without any delay.]
On verra de quel bois je me chauffe = They will see what stuff
I am made of.
Faire flèche de tout bois = To use every means to accomplish an
end; To leave no stone unturned.
Il ne savait plus de quel bois faire flèche = He did not know
which way to turn. (See Saint and Pied.)
Il est du bois dont on fait les flûtes = He is of an easy,
pliable disposition (i.e. like the flexible reeds of which
flutes were originally made).
Nous avons trouvé visage de bois = We found nobody at home;[42] “We
found the oak sported.”
Le bois tortu fait le feu droit = The end justifies the means.
Il ne faut pas clocher devant les boiteux = One must not remind
people of their infirmities. (See Corde.)
Il vient d’être bombardé membre de ce club = He has just been
pitchforked into that club (over the heads of more deserving
people).
Il la fait courte et bonne = He is having a short life and a
merry one.
*A quelque chose malheur est bon = It is an ill wind that blows
nobody any good.
Dites-moi une bonne fois pourquoi vous êtes mécontent = Tell me
once and for all why you are dissatisfied.
A quoi bon lui dire cela? = What is the good of telling him
that?
A la bonne heure! = 1. Well done! 2. That is something like! 3.
At last! 4. Capital!
Il n’est pas bon à jeter aux chiens = He is good for nothing.
Il a bon pied, bon œil = He is sound, wind and limb; He is
hale and hearty.
Faire bonne mine à mauvais jeu = To put a good face on
misfortune; To make the best of a bad job.
[Also: Faire contre fortune bon cœur.]
*A bon jour, bonne œuvre = The better the day, the better
the deed.
Tout lui est bon = All is fish that comes to his net.
Si bon vous semble = If you think fit.
*Les bons comptes font les bons amis = Short reckonings make
long friends.
*A bon vin point d’enseigne = Good wine needs no bush. (See
Vin.)
[43]
Une bonne fuite vaut mieux qu’une mauvaise attente = Discretion
is the better part of valour.
En voilà une bonne! (i.e. plaisanterie); Elle est bonne,
celle-là! = Oh! what a good joke! “What a cram!” That’s rather a
tall story.
Est-ce qu’il est parti pour tout de bon? = Has he gone for good?
Faire faux bond = 1. To deceive. 2. To fail to keep an
appointment.
Il ne va que par sauts et par bonds = He only works by fits and
starts.
Tant de bond que de volée = By hook or by crook.
Au petit bonheur! = I will chance it!
Par bonheur = As luck would have it.
Petit bonhomme vit encore = There’s life in the old dog yet.
[An expression derived from a game which consisted in lighting a
large roll of paper and passing it round a circle of people, each
one repeating these words. The roll would often appear to be out,
when a vigorous swirl would fan it again into a flame.]
Faiseur de boniment (pop.) = A cheap-jack, clap-trap speaker.
[Bonir = to talk like clowns at a fair.]
C’est simple comme bonjour = It is as easy as kiss your hand.
*C’est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet = It is six of one and
half-a-dozen of the other.
C’est un des gros bonnets (or, légumes) de l’endroit = He
is one of the bigwigs of the place.
Il a la tête près du bonnet = He is quick-tempered, easily
ruffled.
Il a mis son bonnet de travers = He is in a bad temper; He got
out of bed the wrong side.
[Also: Il s’est levé du mauvais côté (or, pied).]
[44]
Jeter son bonnet par dessus les moulins (of women) = To throw
off all restraint; Not to care a straw for what people may think
of your bad conduct.
Ce sont deux têtes dans un bonnet = They are hand and glove
together.
Être triste (gai, ironic.) comme un bonnet de nuit = To be
as dull as ditchwater; To be in the dumps.
[Also: Gai comme une porte de prison.]
Il a pris cela sous son bonnet = 1. He invented it. 2. He took
it upon himself.
Ses collègues opinent du bonnet = His colleagues agree with
what he says (without speaking). (See Opiner.)
*“Dans le royaume des aveugles les borgnes sont rois” = Among
the blind, the one-eyed is king.
[The quotation comes from J. J. Rousseau’s Confessions,
Part i., Bk. v.]
Il est planté là comme une borne = He stands there like a post.
Il faut savoir se borner = One must place limits on one’s desires.
[“Qui ne sait se borner ne sut jamais écrire.”
Boileau, Art Poétique, i.]
Rire comme un bossu = To split one’s sides with laughter.
Il a mis du foin dans ses bottes = He has feathered his nest;
He has taken care of number one.
Il est haut comme ma botte = He is a mere sixpennyworth of
halfpence; He is very short.
A propos de bottes = With reference to nothing in particular.
C’est le bouc émissaire = He is the scapegoat.
[45]
Faire la bouche en cœur = To try and look amiable; To put on
a captivating look; To purse up one’s lips.
Cet argument me ferma la bouche = That argument was a poser for
me; I could not reply to that.
Il y en avait à bouche que veux-tu = There was a plentiful
supply of it.
Je garde cela pour la bonne bouche = I am keeping that for the
last.
[Une bonne bouche = A tit-bit.]
Il prend sur sa bouche pour aider ces gens = He stints himself
to help those people.
Faire la petite bouche = To be dainty; To have a small
appetite; To be hard to please.
Bouche close (cousue)! = Not a word, mind! “Mum’s the word.”
La bouche fendue jusqu’aux oreilles = A mouth stretching from
ear to ear.
Être sur sa bouche = To be an epicure.
Mettre les bouchées doubles = To eat quickly; To hurry.
Perdre la boule (pop.) = To lose one’s head; Not to know what
one is doing. (See Tramontane.)
Les officiers étaient en bourgeois (or, en civil) = The
officers were in plain clothes, in mufti.
Elle fait une bonne cuisine bourgeoise = She is a good plain
cook.
Je prends mes repas dans une pension bourgeoise = I board at a
private boarding-house.
*Selon ta bourse gouverne ta bouche = Cut your coat according
to your cloth.
[“Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse;
Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.”
Benjamin Franklin.]
Faire bon marché de sa bourse = To say a thing has cost less
than it has.
[46]
Obtenir une bourse au lycée = To gain an exhibition (or,
scholarship) at a public school.
Avoir toujours la bourse à la main = To have always one’s hand
in one’s pocket.
Loger le diable dans sa bourse = To be penniless.
[Coins generally had a cross on them, which was a protection
against the devil. (See Diable.) Compare Goldsmith,
Vicar of Wakefield, xxi.—“We have not seen the cross of her
money.”]
Ami jusqu’à la bourse = A lukewarm friend.
Sans bourse délier = Without any expense.
Il tira à bout portant = He fired point-blank.
*Au bout de l’aune faut (or, manque) le drap = There is an
end to everything; The last straw breaks the camel’s back.
Il est économe de bouts de chandelle = He is penny wise and
pound foolish.
[Or, Il fait des économies de bouts de chandelle.]
Il a ri du bout des lèvres = He laughed in a forced manner.
Il est poète jusqu’au bout des ongles = He is a poet to his
finger-tips.
Je suis à bout de force = I am exhausted, done up.
C’est le bout du monde = That is the utmost.
Être au bout de son rouleau, de son latin, de sa gamme = To be
at one’s wits’ end; Not to know what to do.
Il répète la même chose à tout bout de champ = He repeats the
same thing every instant, every time he has the chance.
Eh bien! au bout du compte vous avez tort = Well! you are
wrong, after all.
Ma patience est à bout = My patience is exhausted.
Il m’a poussé à bout = He provoked me beyond endurance.
[47]
Laisser voir le bout de l’oreille = To show one’s ignorance
(or, true character); To show what one is driving at; To show
the cloven hoof.
[A reference to the fable of the ass in the lion’s skin.]
Tenir le haut bout = To have the whip hand.
C’est un vrai boute-en-train = He is the very life and soul of
the party.
Il n’a rien vu que par le trou d’une bouteille = He has seen
nothing of the world.
C’est la bouteille à l’encre que cette affaire = This is a very
obscure matter; That affair is as clear as mud.
Toute la boutique (pop.) = The whole show (i.e. a thing and
everything connected with it); The whole boiling; The whole bag
of tricks.
[Also: tout le tremblement, and, le diable et son train.]
*Tomber de la poêle dans la braise = To fall out of the
frying-pan into the fire.
Passer sur une chose comme un chat sur la braise = To pass
lightly over a subject.
Être comme l’oiseau sur la branche = To be very unsettled.
[This generally refers to a man’s position in life, whether he
will stay where he is or be made to leave.]
*Tout ce qui branle ne tombe pas = A creaking gate hangs long.
Bras dessus bras dessous = Arm in arm.
J’ai les bras rompus = My arms are tired.
Cette perte nous coupe bras et jambes = This loss cripples us
entirely.
Les bras me tombent de surprise (or, m’en tombent) = I am
struck dumb with surprise.
Il a le bras long = He has great influence.
[48]
Si vous lui en donnez long comme le doigt, il en prendra long
comme le bras = Give him an inch, he will take an ell.
[“Laissez leur prendre un pied chez vous
Ils en auront bientôt pris quatre.”
La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 7.
German: Wer sich auf den Achseln sitzen lässt, dem sitzt man
nachher auf dem Kopfe = Who lets one sit on his shoulders shall
have him presently sit on his head.
Italian: Si ti lasci metter in spalla il vitello, quindi a poco
ti metter an la vacca = If thou suffer a calf to be laid on thee,
within a little they’ll clap on the cow.]
Je l’ai saisi à bras le corps = I seized him round the waist
(in a struggle).
Je l’ai battu à tour de bras (or, à bras raccourci) = I beat
him with all my might.
Pourquoi restez-vous là les bras croisés? = Why are you waiting
there doing nothing?
J’ai ses enfants sur les bras = I have his children on my hands.
*A brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent = God tempers the wind to
the shorn lamb.
[Also: Dieu donne le froid selon le drap. This is said to
occur first in a collection of proverbs made by Henri Estienne
(Stephanus), 1594. The earliest mention in English is, I believe,
in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey.]
*Qui se fait brebis, le loup le mange = He who is too confiding
is imposed upon; Daub yourself with honey and you’ll be covered
with flies.
*Brebis comptées le loup les mange = Counting one’s chickens
will not keep the fox off; If you count your chickens, harm will
happen to them.
[Compare Vergil, Ecl., vii. 52. This somewhat
difficult expression can also be translated: “A bold thief is not
frightened at things being counted.” It no doubt refers to the
old superstition that counting one’s possessions was followed by
misfortune, as in 2 Samuel xxiv.]
*Brebis qui bêle perd sa goulée = It is the silent sow that
sucks the wash.
[49]
La brebis galeuse = The black sheep.
Il ne faut qu’une brebis galeuse pour infecter tout le troupeau
= One scabby sheep will taint the whole flock; One ill weed mars
a whole pot of pottage.
[Also: Pomme pourrie gâte sa compagnie = One rotten apple spoils
the whole basket.]
Revenir bredouille = (of sportsmen) To return with an empty
bag; To have made an unsuccessful attempt; To return disappointed.
Se coucher bredouille = To go to bed supperless.
*À cheval donné on ne regarde pas à la bride = One does not
look a gift-horse in the mouth.
Il courait à toute bride (or, à bride abattue) = He was
running at full speed.
Je lui ai mis la bride sur le cou = I gave him full liberty.
Vous lui tenez la bride trop haute = You keep him too much
under restraint.
*Tout ce qui brille (or, reluit) n’est pas or = All is not
gold that glitters.
Nous n’avons pas un brin de feu = We have not got a bit of fire.
C’est un beau brin de fille = She is a fine slip of a girl.
Il court sur mes brisées = (lit.) He pursues the same game as I
do; (fig.) He poaches on my preserves.
[Brisées = small branches broken from trees and dropped on the
ground to mark the lair or path of a beast.]
Brisons là! = Let us have no more of that; That will do.
Être à la brochette = 1. To be brought up by hand (of a bird).
2. To be brought up tenderly, with too much care.
[50]
Je crois que vous brodez = (fig.) I think you are exaggerating,
romancing.
Il brode bien = He is good at drawing the long bow.
Établir une rente sur les brouillards de la Seine = To have an
income in the clouds (i.e. nothing).
Est-ce que vous vous êtes brouillés? = Are you no longer
friends?
Il a eu le malheur de se brouiller avec la justice = He was
unfortunate enough to fall out with justice (i.e. to be
punished by imprisonment, fine, etc.).
*Où la chèvre est attachée il faut qu’elle broute = One must
bow to circumstances; One must put up with the inconveniences of
one’s position if one can get nothing better; One must not expect
more from life than life can give; We must take things as we find
them.
[“Là où la chèvre est liée il faut bien qu’elle y
broute.”—Molière, Le Médecin malgré lui, iii. 3.]
L’herbe sera bien courte s’il ne trouve à brouter = He would
live on nothing; It will go hard if he does not pick up a living.
Faire plus de bruit que de besogne = To be more fussy than
industrious.
*Grand bruit, petite besogne = The more hurry, the less speed;
Great cry, little wool.
*Qui a bruit de se lever matin peut dormir jusqu’au soir = A
good reputation covers many sins.
Les tonneaux vides sont ceux qui font le plus de bruit = The
worst wheel makes the most noise.
Il s’est brûlé la cervelle = He blew his brains out.
Ils tirèrent sur lui à brûle-pourpoint = They fired at him
point-blank (so as to burn his doublet).
[51]
Il m’a posé cette question à brûle-pourpoint = He asked me that
question quite unexpectedly.
Brûler une station (une étape) = To run through a station
(or, a halting-place) without stopping.
Brûler le pavé = To dash along at full speed, to “scorch.”
Brûler à petit feu = To wait impatiently, to be on thorns.
Cherchez bien, vous brûlez = Search well, you are getting warm.
[Said to children who are looking for a hidden object, and are
getting near it.]
Nous avons brûlé nos vaisseaux = There is no going back now; We
mean to fight to the last.
[Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, on landing in Africa 317
B.C., burnt his vessels in order to force his soldiers to
conquer or to die. William of Normandy (1066) and Cortez (1518)
did the same.]
Un acteur qui brûle les planches = An actor who plays with
spirit, “go.”
Brûler la politesse = To behave rudely by leaving a person
abruptly.
*Il n’y a si petit buisson qui ne porte ombre = There is no
man, however humble, who cannot aid (or, injure) his superior.
Trouver buisson creux = To find the birds flown.
*On ne saurait faire d’une buse un épervier = One cannot make a
silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
[“Que l’en ne puet fere espervier
En nule guise d’ung busart.”
Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la Rose, 3839.
Also: D’un goujat on ne peut pas faire un gentilhomme = It takes
three generations to make a gentleman; and D’un sac à charbon il
ne saurait sortir blanche farine.]
De but en blanc = Point-blank; Abruptly.
[52]
C.
Ça a sa petite volonté (fam.) = It has a will of its own (in
speaking of children, etc.).
C’est toujours ça = That is something, at any rate.
Pas plus que ça?; Rien que ça? = Is that all?
[This is generally used ironically: e.g. Le cocher m’a
demandé vingt francs pour aller de la Place de la Concorde à
Longchamp!—Rien que ça?]
Cet avocat a un bon cabinet = That barrister has a good
practice.
Courir le cachet = To go from house to house giving private
lessons.
[This expression comes from the custom of the master giving to the
pupil a number of tickets (called cachets) at the first lesson,
for which the pupil pays, and gives one back at the end of each
lesson.]
C’est le cadet de mes soucis = That is the least of my cares;
That is the last thing I worry about.
Il a fait le tour du cadran = 1. He has slept the clock round.
2. He has worked for twelve hours at a stretch.
*La belle cage ne nourrit pas l’oiseau = Fine clothes do not
fill the stomach.
Il tient la caisse = (lit.) He keeps the cash account; (fig.)
He holds the purse-strings.
Il fait la caisse = He is making up his cash account.
Quel est l’état de votre caisse? = How much cash have you in
hand?
Être à fond de cale (fam.) = To be hard up, at the end of one’s
resources.
[Also more pop.: battre la dèche. See Sec and Argent.]
En rase (or, pleine) campagne = In the open country.
[53]
Battre la campagne. (See Battre.)
Se mettre en campagne = (lit., of a general) To take the field;
(fig.) To canvass or look out for a post; To start working.
Rendre un homme camus = To stop a man’s mouth; To make a man
look small.
Il demeura tout camus = He had not a word to say for himself;
He was “stumped.”
Cette nouvelle n’est qu’un canard = That story is all humbug.
[Canard is an absurd tale mocking the credulity of listeners.
Littré derives the word from the phrase vendre à quelqu’un un
canard à moitié = to half sell a duck to any one, i.e. not to
sell it at all, and so, to cheat. A moitié was suppressed and
un canard came to mean a cheat, a sell. Many other explanations
are given of this word.]
Faire la cane = To run away; To show the white feather.
[This expression literally means to bob down, like a duck, to
escape being shot. The verb caner (= to funk) is more often used
now, or the less familiar caponner. “To show the white feather”
arises from the fact that white feathers in game-cocks show
impurity of breed.]
Il prend un air capable = He puts on a bumptious look.
C’est un homme capable de tout = He is a man that would stick
at nothing.
Rire sous cape (or, sous sa coiffe) = To laugh in one’s
sleeve (generally of women. See Barbe.)
N’avoir que la cape et l’épée = To be titled but penniless
(generally used of young officers who have nothing but their pay).
Roman de cape et d’épée = A romantic, melodramatic tale (e.g.
Dumas, Les Trois Mousquetaires).
[54]
*La caque sent toujours le hareng = What is bred in the bone
will never come out of the flesh.
[“You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.”
Moore, Farewell.]
Il a le caractère bien fait = He is always good-tempered.
Il a le caractère mal fait = He cannot take a joke.
C’est un sot à vingt-quatre carats = He is an out-and-out fool,
an A 1 fool.
[“Enfin quoique ignorante à vingt et trois carats.”
La Fontaine, Fables, vii, 15.]
*Cela arrive comme mars en carême = That comes regularly, like
clockwork.
*Cela arrive comme marée en carême = That comes very
seasonably, just at the right time.
Une face de carême = A sad, pale, woe-begone face (like that of
one who has fasted all Lent).
Prêcher sept ans pour un carême = To do a great deal for little
good.
Muet comme une carpe = As dumb as an oyster.
Baîller comme une carpe = To yawn one’s head off.
Elle fait la carpe pâmée (fam.) = She turns up the whites of
her eyes; She pretends to be ill; She looks like a dying duck in
a thunderstorm.
[Also: Faire des yeux de merlan frit.]
Une partie carrée = A party composed of two ladies and two
gentlemen.
C’est une tête carrée = He is an obstinate fellow.
C’est un valet de carreau = He is a contemptible fellow, a
snob.
[55]
Coucher sur le carreau = To sleep on the floor.
Il l’a laissé sur le carreau = He killed him (or, left him
for dead on the ground).
Il est resté sur le carreau = He was killed on the spot, left
for dead on the ground.
[Formerly the floors of rooms were paved with square tiles or
bricks called carreaux. Kitchens are still so paved in France,
and often ground-floor rooms in the country.]
Battre les cartes = To shuffle the cards.
Donner les cartes = To deal the cards.
Brouiller les caries = (fig.) To sow discord.
Elle lui a tiré les cartes = She told his fortune (by cards).
Il a vu le dessous des cartes = He has been behind the scenes;
he is in the secret, “in the know.”
Jouer cartes sur table = To play openly; To act frankly.
Donner carte blanche = To give full permission; To grant a
person full liberty to act according to his judgment.
Je connais la carte du pays = I know the country well.
C’est un homme qui ne perd pas la carte = He is a man who keeps
his wits about him, who has an eye to the main chance.
C’est un château de cartes que cette maison = This is a
jerry-built house.
Rester dans les cartons = To be pigeon-holed.
Des objets de carton = (fig.) Gimcrack things.
C’est bien le cas de le dire = One may indeed say so.
Il n’est pas dans le cas de vous nuire = He is not in a
position to harm you.
Le cas échéant = In such a case; If such should be the case.
C’est le cas ou jamais = It is now or never.
Nous en faisons grand cas = We value it very highly.
[56]
Tout mauvais cas est niable = A man may be expected to deny a
deed that he knows to be wrong.
Un en-cas = Something prepared in case of need.
[Formerly this was said of a slight meal placed in a bedroom
in case one should wake in the night and need food. Now it
rather refers to anything that can be used in case guests
arrive unexpectedly. Also of a parasol that can be used as an
umbrella in case it rains. The latter is more usually called un
en-tout-cas.]
Une noce à tout casser (pop.) = A rare old jollification.
Vous me cassez la tête avec votre bruit = You split my head
with your noise.
Je ne me casse pas la tête avec (or, pour) de telles
bagatelles = I don’t worry my head (or, rack my brains) over
such trifles.
Il nous cassait l’encensoir sur le nez = He was smothering us
with flatteries.
[To ‘incense’ any one would be to honour or praise him, but to
break the censer against his nose would be overdoing it.]
Les fatigues ont cassé cet homme = Hardships have broken that
man down.
J’ai cassé une croûte = I just had a snack.
Cet homme casse les vitres = That man speaks out boldly, to
bring matters to a crisis; That man does not pick and choose his
words.
On ne fait pas d’omelettes sans casser des œufs = Nothing is
done without trouble and sacrifice.
[A saying attributed to Napoleon I. in defence of the great
mortality caused by his wars.]
Payer les pots cassés = To stand the racket.
Se casser le nez = 1. To fall on one’s face. 2. To knock up
against an obstacle. 3. To fail in an enterprise.
[57]
C’est comme un cataplasme sur une jambe de bois = A nod is as
good as a wink to a blind horse.
Cet individu n’a pas l’air catholique = That man does not look
very trustworthy.
Votre vin est trop catholique = Your wine is too weak, (i.e.
baptised with water).
Il parle en connaissance de cause = He knows what he is talking
about.
Je ne veux pas y aller et pour cause = I do not want to go
there, and for a very good reason.
J’ai toujours pris fait et cause pour vous = I have always
stood up for you, taken up the cudgels in your defence.
Il a eu gain de cause = He gained the day.
Un avocat sans cause = A briefless barrister.
Vous êtes hors de cause = You are not concerned in the matter;
This has nothing to do with you.
Il est sujet à caution = He is not to be relied upon.
[Caution, meaning “bail,” implies that he cannot be trusted
except on bail.]
A ce que je vois = As far as I can judge.
Ce que je sais, c’est que c’est un voleur = All I know is that
he is a thief.
Sur ce il s’en alla = After that he went away.
Ce que c’est que de nous! = What poor mortals we are!
*Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée = A good name is
better than riches; He who has lost his reputation is a dead man
among the living.
[Ceinture here refers to the purse which was in, or attached to,
the girdle. Compare Proverbs xxii. 1, “A good name is rather to be
chosen than great riches,” and
“The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.”
Shakespeare, Richard II. i. 1.]
[58]
C’est parler cela = That is what I call talking.
C’est ceci, c’est cela = It is sometimes one thing, sometimes
another.
Pour ça, non! = Not a bit of it; Certainly not.
Il est comme cela = That is his way.
C’est bien comme cela! = That is just it!!
C’est cela même! = That’s the very thing!
Pour cela même = For that very reason.
N’est-ce que cela? = Is that all?
En un mot comme en cent = Once and for all.
Je vous le donne en cent = I bet you 100 to 1 you will not
guess it.
*Cent ans bannière, cent ans civière = Up to-day, down
to-morrow; Every dog has his day.
[Bannière is here used as the mark of nobility. Also:
Aujourd’hui chevalier, demain vacher. German: Heute mir, morgen
dir. Latin: Hodie mihi, cras tibi.]
Cent ans de chagrin ne paient pas un sou de dettes = Worrying
will not pay your debts.
Le scélérat se brûla la cervelle = The scoundrel blew his
brains out.
[Also, more pop., “se faire sauter le caisson.”]
*A la cour du roi chacun pour soi = Every man for himself and
the devil take the hindmost. (See Sauver.)
Chacun cherche son semblable = Like will to like. (See Pot
and Tel.)
[“Entre gens de même nature
L’amitié se fait et dure
Mais entre gens de contraire nature
Ni amour ni amitié dure.”]
Cela fait venir la chair de poule = That makes one’s flesh
creep.
Je l’ai vu en chair et en os = I saw him in flesh and blood.
Ni chair ni poisson = Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl.
[59]
Être assis entre deux chaises = To fall between two stools.
(See Chasser.)
Il y a bien des chambres à louer dans sa tête = He is an
empty-headed fellow.
Rejeter le moucheron et avaler le chameau = To strain at a gnat
and swallow a camel.
Il est fou à courir les champs = He is as mad as a March hare.
Nous prendrons la clef des champs = We shall take the key of
the street (i.e., run away).
Un rien le met aux champs = A trifle throws him into a passion,
bewilders him.
Être aux champs = To be put out, bewildered, angry.
Prendre du champ = To take a run (before leap); To have room
before one (for an effort).
[“Ils prirent du champ et coururent l’un sur l’autre avec
furie.”—Chateaubriand, Dernier des Abencérages, 185.]
Chance vaut mieux que bien jouer = Luck is better than wit or
brains.
Il n’est chance qui ne retourne = The luck must change.
*A chaque saint sa chandelle = Honour to whom honour is due;
Every lawyer must have his fee.
Il vous doit une belle chandelle = He ought to be very grateful
to you.
[An allusion to the custom of burning candles before the altars of
Saints, as a mark of gratitude, considered due to them.]
Voir des chandelles (or, mille chandelles) = “To see stars.”
(See Étoile.)
Donner une chandelle à Dieu et une au diable = To try and keep
in with both parties.
[60]
Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle = The game is not worth the
candle; It is not worth while.
[i.e., when the stakes are not sufficient to pay for the candle
burnt during the game.]
*C’est une économie de bouts de chandelle = That is penny-wise
and pound-foolish; That is spoiling the ship for a ha’porth
(halfpennyworth) of tar; That is a cheese-paring policy.
Brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts = To burn the candle at
both ends.
Donner le change = To put off the scent, to mislead.
Vous ne me ferez pas prendre le change = You will not impose
upon me, put me on the wrong scent.
[Expressions taken from hunting, where the dogs leave the track of
the game they have raised, to run on another scent.]
Je lui ai rendu le change = I paid him back in his own coin.
(See Monnaie.)
Changer son cheval borgne contre un aveugle = To lose in an
exchange.
Il en a l’air et la chanson = He looks it every inch; He has
both the appearance and the actuality.
C’est l’air qui fait la chanson = Words depend much on the tone
in which they are spoken; It is not so much what you say as the
way in which you say it.
*Il chante toujours la même chanson = He is always harping on
the same string.
[“Cantilenam eandem canere.”
Terence, Phormio, iii. 2, 10.
“Chorda qui semper oberrat eadem.”
Horace, Ars Poet., 356.]
*Tel chante qui ne rit pas = The heart may be sad though the
face be gay.
[61]
C’est comme si je chantais = It is like talking to the air,
preaching in the desert.
Je lui ai chanté sa gamme = I lectured him severely.
Une porte mal graissée chante = One must pay well to keep
persons quiet.
Elle chante à faire pitié = She sings most wretchedly.
Chanter juste = To sing in tune.
Si ça vous chante (fam.) = If you are in the mood for it.
Voici la reine, chapeau bas! = Here is the Queen, hats off.
Le chapelet commence à se défiler = The association is
beginning to break up.
Défiler (or, dire) son chapelet = To say all one has to say.
Il n’a pas gagné cela en disant son chapelet = He did not get
that for nothing.
*Qui chapon mange, chapon lui vient = He that has plenty shall
have more.
*Charbonnier est maître chez lui (or, chez soi) = Every one
is master in his own house; An Englishman’s house is his castle.
[In the Commentaires de Blaise de Monluc, Maréchal de France
(ed. Alphonse de Ruble, pour la Société de l’Histoire de France,
tome iii. p. 482, Paris, 1867), in a remonstrance to the king
he says: “car chacun est roy en sa maison, comme respondit le
charbonnier à votre ayeul.” M. de Ruble appends this note:
“François Ier, à la suite d’une chasse qui l’avait séparé de sa
suite, se perdit dans une forêt et chercha un asile dans la cabane
d’un charbonnier. L’homme était absent; le roi ne trouva que la
charbonnière, s’empara du meilleur siège et demanda à souper.
La femme voulut attendre l’arrivée de son mari. A son retour,
celui-ci reprit brusquement son siège et offrit un simple escabeau
au roi: ‘Je prendz cette chaise,’ dit-il, ‘parce qu’elle est à moi:
Or, par droit et par raison,
Chacun est maître en sa maison.’
[62]
Le roi, charmé de n’être point reconnu, obéit à son hôte. On soupa
d’un quartier de chevreuil tué en cachette, on médit du roi, des
tailles qu’il venait d’ordonner et surtout de sa sévérité pour la
chasse. Le lendemain, François se fit connaître. Le charbonnier
se crut perdu, mais le roi le rassura, et, pour prix de son
hospitalité, lui accorda de grandes faveurs, entre autres le droit
de chasser. A son retour à la cour, il rapporta le récit de son
aventure et surtout le proverbe qu’il venait d’apprendre.” Also in
La Belle Arsène, comédie-féerie de C. S. Favart, acted before
the king in 1773, we find this proverb (Act iv. Sc. 2).]
Cela est à ma charge = I have to pay for it; That falls on me.
Cela m’est à charge = That is a burden to me.
C’est entendu, à la charge d’autant (or, de revanche) = I
will do the same for you; One good turn deserves another.
*Charité bien ordonnée commence par soi-même = Charity begins
at home.
[“Proximus sum egomet mihi.” = I myself am nearest to
myself.—Terence.]
La charité, s’il vous plaît! = Please give me a penny!
Faire Charlemagne = To leave off a winner, without giving one’s
adversaries a chance of revenge.
[Génin explains this as a shortened form of faire comme
Charlemagne, who died without losing any of the conquests he had
made.]
Mettre la charrette (or, charrue) devant les bœufs = To
put the cart before the horse.
[Lucian says: ἡ ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει = The waggon
drags the ox.]
Mieux vaut être cheval que charrette = Better lead than be led.
Faire un chassé-croisé = To go to and fro in all directions; to
exchange places; to play at[63] “puss in the corner.”
“Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop” = What is bred in the
bone will never come out of the flesh.
[Destouches, Le Glorieux, iii. 5. Comp.
Horace, Ep. I., x. 24: “naturam expellas furca, tamen
usque recurret,” and La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 18:
“Tant le naturel a de force!
Il se moque de tout...
Qu’on lui ferme la porte au nez
Il reviendra par les fenêtres.”
Frederick the Great wrote to Voltaire (19th March 1771): “Chassez
les préjugés par la porte, ils reviendront par la fenêtre.”
Also: Qui naquit chat court après les souris.]
*Qui deux choses chasse, ni l’une ni l’autre ne prend = Between
two stools one falls to the ground.
Ne chassez pas deux lièvres à la fois = Do not have too many
irons in the fire.
Il chasse de race = He is a chip of the old block.
Un clou chasse l’autre = One idea drives away another.
*A bon chat bon rat = A Roland for an Oliver; Tit for tat;
Diamond cut diamond.
*Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide = A burnt child dreads the
fire; Once bit, twice shy.
[The Jewish Rabbis said: “One bitten by a serpent is afraid of a
rope’s end.”
Hesiod says: “Even a fool after suffering gets him knowledge”; the
Italians: “Can scotato da l’acqua calda ha paura poi della fredda”
= A dog burnt by hot water afterwards fears cold.]
J’appelle un chat un chat = I call a spade a spade. (See
Appeler.)
Avoir un chat dans la gorge = To have phlegm (or, frog) in
the throat; To be hoarse.
*Nous avons d’autres chats (or, chiens) à fouetter = We
have other fish to fry.
[64]
Il n’y a pas là de quoi fouetter un chat = It is not worth
getting angry about.
*Ne réveillons pas le chat qui dort = Let sleeping dogs lie.
*Le chat parti les souris dansent = When the cat’s away the
mice will play.
*La nuit tous les chats sont gris = At night one may easily
be mistaken; At night beauty is of no account; When candles are
away, all cats are grey.
*Chat botté n’attrape pas de souris = A muffled cat catches no
mice.
Comme chat sur braise = Like a cat on hot bricks.
Il n’y a pas un chat = There is not a soul.
Aller comme un chat maigre = To run like a lamplighter. (See
Verrier.)
Faire des châteaux en Espagne = To build castles in the air.
[This expression is found from the thirteenth century. The
explanation that would ascribe it to the followers of the Duc
d’Anjou when he became Philippe V. of Spain must therefore be
incorrect. The phrases “Châteaux en Asie, en Albanie” were
also used, so that it comes to mean “to build castles in
foreign countries, where one is not,” and hence “to indulge in
illusions.”—Littré, s.v.
“Chatiaus en Espagne.”—Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la
Rose, l. 2530.
“De quoi sert-il de bastir des chasteaux en Espagne puisqu’il faut
habiter en France?” St. François de Sales, lettre 856.]
Pleurer à chaudes larmes = To cry bitterly.
*Tomber de fièvre en chaud mal = To fall out of the frying-pan
into the fire.
Cela ne me fait ni froid ni chaud = That is indifferent to me.
Il a les pieds bien chauds = He is in very easy circumstances.
*Petit chaudron, grandes oreilles = Little pitchers have long
ears.
[65]
Chauffer
C’est un bain qui chauffe = There is a shower coming on.
[When it feels close, or when the sun is seen for a few minutes
through the clouds, it is looked upon as a sign of rain.]
Ce n’est pas pour vous que le four chauffe = All these
preparations are not for you.
Les cordonniers sont les plus mal chaussés = The shoemaker’s
wife goes the worst shod.
Chauve comme mon genou (fam.) = As bald as a coot, as a
billiard ball.
Elle a une grande fortune de son chef = She has a large fortune
in her own right.
Faire une chose de son chef = To do a thing on one’s own
responsibility.
Chemin faisant = On the way.
Le chemin de velours = The primrose path.
En tout pays il y a une lieue de mauvais chemin = (fig.) In
every enterprise difficulties have to be encountered.
Il ne faut pas y aller par quatre chemins = You must not beat
about the bush; You must go straight to the point; You must not
mince matters; It’s no good shilly-shallying.
*Qui trop se hâte reste en chemin = The more haste, the less
speed; Slow and sure wins the race. (See Hâte.)
*Le chemin le plus long est souvent le plus court = The longest
way round often proves to be the shortest; A short cut may be a
very long way home.
Prendre le chemin de l’école (or, des écoliers) = To take the
longest way (a roundabout way).
*À chemin battu il ne croît pas d’herbe = (fig.) There is no
profit in an affair in which many are engaged.
[66]
Se frayer un chemin avec les coudes = To elbow one’s way
through a crowd.
Il faut faire une croix à la cheminée = “We must chalk it up”
(of an event that seldom happens.)
Sous le manteau de la cheminée = Secretly, sub rosa.
*À cheval donné on ne regarde pas à la bride (or, à la dent)
= One does not look a gift-horse in the mouth.
[Late Latin: “Si quis det mannos, ne quaere in dentibus annos.”]
On loge à pied et à cheval = Good entertainment (accommodation)
for man and beast.
L’œil du maître engraisse le cheval = Matters prosper under
the master’s eye.
[“Il n’est pour voir que l’œil du maître.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iv. 21.]
Il est aisé d’aller à pied quand on tient son cheval par la
bride = It is easy to stoop from state when that state can be
resumed at will.
Il n’est si bon cheval qui ne bronche = The best horse may
stumble; Accidents will happen.
[Also: Il n’est si bon charretier qui ne verse.]
Il a changé son cheval borgne contre un aveugle = He has
changed for the worse; He has made a bad bargain.
Monter sur ses grands chevaux = To ride the high horse.
[A reference to the big war horses used by knights in battle.]
Je lui ai écrit une lettre à cheval = I wrote him a severe
letter.
Il est toujours à cheval sur l’étiquette = He is a stickler for
etiquette.
[67]
Il est bon cheval de trompette = He is not easily dismayed.
Un cheval à deux fins = A horse for riding or driving.
J’ai une fièvre de cheval = I am in a high fever.
Un chevalier d’industrie = A swindler, a man who lives by his
wits.
Cette comparaison est tirée par les cheveux = That comparison
is somewhat far-fetched.
On ne peut prendre aux cheveux un homme rasé = One cannot get
blood from a stone. (See Huile.)
En cheveux (of a woman) = Bareheaded.
[Of a man: tête nue.]
Les cheveux en brosse = Hair cut short (standing up like the
bristles of a brush).
Prendre l’occasion aux cheveux = To take time by the forelock.
(See Balle.)
Avoir mal aux cheveux (fam.) = To have a head (i.e. a
head-ache in the morning after a drinking bout.)
Vous ne lui allez pas à la cheville = You are a pigmy compared
with him; You are no match for him at all.
La cheville ouvrière = The mainspring, pivot.
*Ménager la chèvre et le chou = To run with the hare and hunt
with the hounds.
[The French refers to the tale of the man in charge of a wolf, a
goat, and a cabbage. He came to a river which he had to cross; but
the ferry-boat was so small that he could only take one of his
charges with him. His difficulty was to get them across, for if he
left the wolf and goat together, the wolf would eat the goat; and
if he left the goat with the cabbage the goat would eat it.]
*Où la chèvre est attachée il faut qu’elle broute = One must
put up with the inconveniences of one’s position if one can get
nothing better; We must not expect more from life than life can
give us.
[68]
*Il n’y a pas de petit chez soi = There is no place like home;
Home is home, be it ever so humble; East, west, home is best.
[Also: Un petit chez soi vaut mieux qu’un grand chez les autres.
“My house, my house, though thou art small,
Thou art to me the Escuriall.”
George Herbert, Jacula Prudentium.]
C’est le chien de Jean de Nivelle, il s’enfuit quand on
l’appelle = The more you call him, the more he runs away, like
John de Nivelle’s dog.
[Jean de Nivelle was the eldest son of Jean II., Duc de
Montmorency, and was born about 1423. Having been summoned
to appear before the Judges at Paris for having espoused the
cause of the Duke of Burgundy against the wishes of the king,
Louis XI., and of his father, who disinherited him, he fled to
Flanders, where his wife had property. He therefore became an
object of scorn to the people for refusing to answer the summons
of his king, and they called him chien: the saying ought to
run: C’est CE chien de Jean de Nivelle. La Fontaine
evidently thought the phrase referred to a real dog when he
wrote:—
“Une traîtresse voix bien souvent vous appelle,
Ne vous pressez donc nullement,
Ce n’était pas un sot, non, non et croyez m’en.
Que le chien de Jean de Nivelle.”
Compare the Italian:—
Far come il can d’Arlotto que chiamoto se la batte.]
*Qui veut noyer son chien l’accuse de la rage = Give your dog a
bad name and hang him.
[Quos Jupiter vult perdere prius dementat.]
Je jette ma langue aux chiens = I give it up (of riddles, etc.).
[Also: Je donne ma langue aux chats.]
Nous sommes sortis entre chien et loup = We went out at dusk,
between the lights.
[i.e. when you could easily mistake a wolf for a dog; or, as
others say, between the time when the watch-dog is let loose and
the time when the wolf comes out of the wood.]
[69]
Un chien regarde bien un évêque = A cat may look at a king.
Il fait un chien de temps (or, un temps de chien) (fam.) = It
is wretched weather.
C’est saint Roch et son chien que ces deux personnes-là = These
two persons are inseparable.
*Bon chien chasse de race = Like sire, like son; Cat after kind.
C’est le chien du jardinier qui ne mange pas de choux et n’en
laisse pas manger aux autres = He is a dog in the manger.
Écorcher son chien pour en avoir la peau = To sacrifice
something important for a small return.
Chien qui aboie ne mord pas = His bark is worse than his bite.
[Also: Tel fiert qui ne tue pas, and Chat miauleur ne fut
jamais bon chasseur, non plus qu’homme sage caqueteur.]
Autant vaut être mordu d’un chien que d’une chienne = As well
be hanged for a sheep as a lamb; What is the use of choosing
between two evils?
On l’a reçu comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles = He was as
welcome as a dog at a wedding.
*Il ne faut pas se moquer des chiens (or, du loup) avant
qu’on ne soit hors du bois = Do not holloa before you are out of
the wood.
Il n’attache pas ses chiens avec des saucisses = He is a
regular miser.
Chien hargneux a toujours l’oreille déchirée = Quarrelsome folk
are always in the wars.
Jamais bon chien n’a rongé bon os = A good dog rarely gets a
good bone; Men rarely get their deserts.
Se regarder en chiens de faïence = To look at one another
without talking (like stuck pigs).
[70]
Nous causions chiffons (of women) = We were chattering about
dress.
Elle a une petite mine chiffonnée = She has irregular features,
but her expression is pleasing.
*Chômer les fêtes avant qu’elles ne soient venues = To count
one’s chickens before they are hatched.
[“Laissons venir la fête avant que la chômer.”
Molière, Le Dépit Amoureux, i. 1.]
C’est un saint qu’on ne chôme point = He is in no great repute.
[“L’honneur est un vieux saint que l’on ne chôme plus.”
Régnier, Satires, xiii.]
Dites bien des choses de ma part à votre frère = Remember me
kindly to your brother.
Rester tout chose = To be confused.
Il était tout chose = He was out of sorts; out of spirits; cast
down.
Monsieur Chose (or, Machin) = “Mr. What’s-his-name.”
On l’envoya planter ses choux = He was dismissed.
Aller planter ses choux (or, garder les dindons) = To retire
into the country.
Chou pour chou = Taking one thing with another.
[The whole expression is: Chou pour chou, Aubervilliers vaut
bien Paris = Aubervilliers is as good as Paris, if it come to
counting cabbages, i.e., each thing has its particular merits.
Aubervilliers is a suburb of Paris, noted for its market gardens.]
Bête comme (un) chou (un pot, une cruche, une oie) =
As stupid as an owl.
Mon petit chou = My little darling.
[This has nothing to do with a cabbage, but with a kind of puff
pastry filled with cream, in the shape of a cabbage.]
Faire ses choux gras d’une chose = To enjoy a thing that others
despise.
[71]
Remuer ciel et terre = To move heaven and earth; To leave no
stone unturned.
Circulez, Messieurs! = Move on, please! (cry of policemen).
Parler clair et net = To speak plainly.
Je n’y vois pas clair = I cannot see, it is too dark.
Clair comme le jour (or, comme le soleil en plein midi) = As
plain as a pikestaff; As clear as noonday.
À la rentrée des classes = When school reopens.
Mettre la clef sous la porte = To run away from one’s
creditors; “To bolt.”
La clef dont on se sert est toujours claire = One does not get
rusty in what one does every day.
Un pas de clerc = A blunder; A false step.
Il ne faut pas parler latin devant les clercs = Do not correct
a specialist on his subject.
[“Les plus grands clercs ne sont pas les plus fins.”
Régnier, Satires, iii.]
Ses plaisanteries ne sont que des clichés = His jokes are
stereotyped.
En un clin d’œil = In a twinkling.
*Qui n’entend qu’une cloche n’entend qu’un son = One should
hear both sides of a question.
Il est temps de fondre la cloche = The time for action has
arrived.
Déménager à la cloche de bois (fam.) = To shoot the moon; To
leave a house without paying one’s rent or one’s creditors.
Il n’a jamais perdu son clocher de vue = He has never been out
of his parish.
Il faut placer le clocher au milieu du village = What is meant
for the benefit of all should be within reach of all.
[e.g. a lamp in the middle of the table.]
[72]
Avoir la maladie du clocher = To be homesick.
[Also more often: Avoir le mal du pays.]
Ce n’est pas mal, mais il y a encore quelque chose qui cloche =
It is not bad, but there is still something wrong.
*Toute comparaison cloche [or, pèche] = Comparisons are
odious.
Cela ne vaut pas un clou à soufflet = That is not worth a straw
(lit. a tin-tack).
Je lui ai rivé son clou (pop.) = I shut his mouth; That was a
poser for him.
[“Vous avez fort bien fait de lui river son clou.”
Regnard, Le Distrait, iv. 7.]
Un clou chasse l’autre = One idea drives away another.
Le clou de l’Exposition = The chief attraction of the
Exhibition.
C’est un pays de cocagne = It is a land flowing with milk and
honey.
[“Paris est pour le riche un pays de cocagne;
Sans sortir de la ville il trouve la campagne.”
Boileau, Satires, vi.]
Le mât de cocagne = The greasy pole.
C’est la mouche du coche = He is a regular busybody.
[La Fontaine, Fables, vii. 9, imitated from Æsop.]
Nous n’avons pas gardé les cochons ensemble (pop.) = We have
not been dragged up together.
[The reply to a man who presumes upon acquaintance, and needs
putting down.]
À contre cœur = Reluctantly.
À cœur joie = To one’s heart’s content.
De gaieté de cœur = Out of sheer wantonness.
Il l’a fait de bon cœur = He did it willingly.
[73]
Dîner par cœur = To go without a dinner; To dine with Duke
Humphrey.
[Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, son of Henry IV., was renowned for
his hospitality. At his death it was reported that he would have a
monument in S. Paul’s, but he was buried at S. Alban’s Abbey. S.
Paul’s was at that time the common lounge of the town, and when
the promenaders left for dinner, those who had no dinner to go
to, used to say they would stay behind and look for the monument
of the Good Duke. A similar saying was, “To sup with Sir Thomas
Gresham,” the Exchange, built by him, being a place of resort.]
Vous l’avez blessé au cœur = You have wounded his feelings.
C’est un crève cœur = It is a heart-rending thing.
*Loin des yeux, loin du cœur = Out of sight, out of mind.
Il a cela à cœur = 1. He is striving hard to do it. 2. He
takes a lively interest in it.
Cela me tient au cœur = I have set my heart upon it.
Il a mal au cœur = He is feeling sick.
Il a une maladie de cœur = He has heart disease.
Elle fait la bouche en cœur = She puts on a captivating
look; She purses up her lips.
Elle a le cœur gros = She is ready to cry; She is
heavy-hearted.
Si le cœur vous en dit = If you feel like it; If you have a
mind to.
Je veux en avoir le cœur net = I must clear that up.
Il a le cœur sur les lèvres = 1. He always says what he
thinks (and this is always something good and kind); He is
open-hearted. 2. He feels sick.
Être plein de cœur = To be full of generosity; To be
noble-minded; To have a high sense of one’s duties towards
others.
[74]
Avoir le cœur sur la main = To be open-hearted, frank.
Un serrement de cœur = A sinking at the heart; A feeling of
oppression and sadness.
Voilà l’homme dont elle est coiffée = There is the man with
whom she is smitten.
Être né coiffé = To be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
(literally, with a caul).
Coiffer sainte Catherine = To remain an old maid.
Cet homme mourra au coin d’un bois (or, d’une haie) = That
man will die in a ditch.
Il est franc du collier = (of a horse) He pulls freely; (of a
man) He never shirks his work.
Reprendre le collier de misère = To return to drudgery, to the
old routine.
Le feu détruisit le bâtiment de fond en comble = The fire
completely gutted the building.
Elle est au comble de ses désirs = She is at the very height of
her wishes.
Pour comble de malheur, il tomba malade = To crown his
misfortune, he fell ill.
Venez demain, nous serons en petit comité = Come to-morrow,
there will be only a few intimate friends.
Comme ci, comme ça = So-so; indifferently.
Je ne l’ai pas dit, mais c’est tout comme = I did not say so,
but it is just as if I did.
C’est tout comme = It comes to the same thing.
*N’a pas fait qui commence = The beginning is not everything.
[“Qui commence le mieux ne fait rien s’il n’achève.”
Corneille.]
[75]
A moitié fait qui commence bien = Well begun is half done; A
good beginning is half the battle.
[“Unes vespres bien sonnées sont à demy dictes.”
Rabelais, Gargantua, cxl.
Also: Matines bien sonnées sont à moitié dites.
Barbe bien savonnée est à moitié rasée.]
*Qui commence mal finit mal = A bad day never has a good night.
Le patron n’est pas commode (fam.) = The master (boss) knows
all our tricks, is not easily taken in, is very strict, is not an
easy customer to deal with.
Il m’a faussé compagnie = He gave me the slip; He did not keep
his appointment.
Vous me traitez comme si j’étais compagnie = You treat me as if
I were somebody.
Il n’y a si bonne compagnie qui ne se quitte = The best of
friends must part.
Traiter quelqu’un de pair à compagnon = To treat any one as an
equal; To be “hail-fellow-well-met” (cheek by jowl) with any one.
*Qui a compagnon a maître = One is often obliged to give way to
the wishes of those with whom one is associated.
Avoir le compas dans l’œil (fam.) = To have a good eye for
distances.
C’est un rusé compère = He is a sly dog, a cunning old fox.
(See Fin and Mouche.)
[Other equivalents are: un fin (or, fûté) matois (vide
Molière, George Dandin, i. 2, ad fin.), une fine
mouche.]
Sans compliment = Really; sincerely; I mean really what I say.
Voici votre argent, voyez si vous avez votre compte = Here is
your money, see if it is right.
Erreur n’est pas compte = Errors excepted.
[76]
Je renonce à ce commerce, car je n’y trouve pas mon compte = I
am giving up this business, for I make nothing by it.
Ne l’offensez pas, car vous n’y trouverez pas votre compte = Do
not offend him, for you would get more than you cared for.
Nous nous amusons à bon compte = We amuse ourselves at a small
cost.
Vous êtes loin du compte = You are out in your reckoning.
On peut toujours à bon compte revenir = There is no harm in
examining an account twice.
Je mets cela en ligne de compte = I take that into account.
Faisons un compte rond = Let us make it even money.
Pour se rendre compte de la chose = To get a clear idea of the
matter.
Nous sommes de compte à demi dans l’entreprise = We are
partners on equal terms in the venture; We are going halves in
the venture.
À chacun son compte = To give every one his due.
Au bout du compte = Upon the whole; After all.
Enfin de compte = (lit.) When the addition is made; (fig.) When
all is told; When all is said and done.
Il a son compte (or, Son compte est réglé) = 1. (lit.) He has
his due. 2. (pop.) He is done for. (See Affaire.)
Il lui compte les morceaux = He grudges him the very food he
eats.
*Qui compte sans son hôte compte deux fois = He who reckons
without his host must reckon again; Don’t count your chickens
before they are hatched. (See Chômer and Peau.)
Comptez dessus = Depend upon it.
[77]
Vous pouvez faire des commandes en mon nom jusqu’à concurrence
de 5,000 francs = You can order goods in my name to the amount
of £200.
Il conduit bien sa barque = (fig.) He plays his cards well.
Tous ses camarades lui firent la conduite = All his companions
saw him off.
C’est le diable à confesser = It is terribly hard to do.
On lui donnerait le bon Dieu sans confession = They would trust
him to any extent (because of his saintly appearance).
En connaissance de cause = Knowingly.
Je suis en pays de connaissance = I am among people I know,
among old friends.
Il est connu comme le loup blanc = He is known to everybody.
Il gagne à être connu = He improves upon acquaintance.
Je ne le connais ni d’Ève ni d’Adam = I do not know him from
Adam.
Je ne le connais ni de près ni de loin = I do not know him at
all.
En chiffres connus = In plain figures.
Vous y connaissez-vous en vins? = Are you a judge of wine?
Je m’y connais = I understand all about it; I am an authority
on it.
Connu! (fam.) = That is an old tale.
Je la connais, celle-là (pop.) = That is nothing new; I’ve been
“had” before.
*À parti pris pas de conseil = Advice is useless to one who has
made up his mind.
*La nuit porte conseil = Sleep upon it; Time will show a plan.
Il a bientôt assemblé son conseil = He makes up his mind
without consulting any one.
[78]
“Aimez qu’on vous conseille et non pas qu’on vous loue” =
Prefer advice to praise.
[Boileau, Art Poétique, i. 192.]
*Qui ne dit mot consent = Silence gives consent.
Cela ne tire pas à conséquence = That is of no importance.
Des contes à dormir debout = Tedious, nonsensical tales; Old
wives’ tales.
*Contentement passe richesse = Enough is as good as a feast.
Il vous en conte de belles = He is deceiving you finely; He is
telling you fine tales.
Vous êtes porté sur le contrôle = Your name is placed on the
roll.
Une chaîne contrôlée = A hall-marked chain.
Vous prêchez un converti = You are talking to a man who thinks
with you.
Il est comme un coq en pâte = He is in clover.
[Lit. one kept separately from the others to be fattened; pâte
is its food. Comme rats en paille is sometimes used.]
Il est le coq du village = He is the cock of the walk.
Des coq-à-l’âne = Cock and bull stories; Disconnected
rigmaroles.
À qui vendez-vous vos coquilles? = Tell that to the marines.
(See Autre.)
[Charles d’Orléans, Rondeau, 148.]
Rentrer dans sa coquille = To draw in one’s horns.
Il fait bien valoir ses coquilles = He praises his goods too
much.
À cor et à cri = With hue and cry; Vehemently.
Demander à cor et à cri = To clamour for.
[79]
Être au bout de sa corde (or, son rouleau) = To be at the end
of one’s tether; To have no more to say.
Vous verrez beau jeu si la corde ne rompt = You will see fine
fun if no accident happens, if no hitch occurs.
Cette affaire a passé à fleur de corde = That business only
just succeeded.
Cet homme file sa corde = That man will bring himself to the
gallows.
Il ne faut pas parler de corde dans la maison d’un pendu =
We must not make personal remarks; We must not allude to the
skeleton in the cupboard. (See Boiteux.)
Il a de la corde de pendu dans sa poche = He has the devil’s
own luck.
[A piece of the rope with which a man had been hanged was, and
is even now, considered as a charm against ill-luck. Archbishop
Trench adduces other proverbs in reference to the man whose luck
never forsakes him, so that from the very things which would be
another man’s ruin, he extricates himself not only without harm
but with credit: e.g. the Arabic: “Cast him into the Nile, and
he will come up with a fish in his mouth”; the German: “Würf er
einen Groschen aufs Dach, fiel ihm ein Taler herunter” = If he
threw a penny on to the roof, a dollar would come back to him.]
Il tient la corde = He is leading; He is first favourite.
Vous touchez la corde sensible = You are touching the sore
point.
Ne touchez pas cette corde = (fig.) Do not speak of that.
Cela est usé jusqu’à la corde = (lit.) That is worn threadbare;
(fig.) That is thoroughly hackneyed.
Aux États-Unis les rues sont tirées au cordeau = In the United
States the streets are perfectly straight.
Cordon, s’il vous plaît = Open the door, please (to porters in
Paris).
[80]
Ne faites pas de cornes à ce livre = Do not dog’s-ear that book.
Bayer aux corneilles = To stare (or, gape) about vacantly.
C’est un drôle de corps = He is an odd fellow, a queer fish.
Nous verrons ce qu’il a dans le corps = We will see what he is
made of.
Il s’est jeté à corps perdu dans cette affaire = He threw
himself headlong (or, with might and main) into the matter.
Je le saisis à bras le corps = I seized him round the waist (in
a struggle).
Ils se sont battus corps à corps = They fought hand to hand.
Je l’ai fait à mon corps défendant = I did it reluctantly, in
self-defence.
Prendre du corps = To get fat.
Il a l’âme chevillée dans le corps = He has as many lives as a
cat.
*À corsaire, corsaire et demi = Set a thief to catch a thief.
[“Ars deluditur arte.”—Cato.
“A trompeur, trompeur et demy.”—Charles d’Orléans,
Rondel, 46.]
*Corsaires contre corsaires ne font pas leurs affaires = Dog
does not eat dog. (See Loup.)
[“Corsaires contre corsaires,
L’un l’autre s’attaquant ne font pas leurs affaires.”—
La Fontaine, Tribut envoyé par les animaux à Alexandre,
imitating Régnier, Satire xii., ad fin., who took it from the
Spanish De corsario a corsario no se llevan que los barriles.]
C’est une vraie corvée! = What a nuisance! What a bore!
[Corvée originally referred to feudal forced labour. It is now
a military term, and means “fatigue duty”; hence, any unpleasant
task.]
On lui compterait les côtes = He is nothing but skin and bone.
[81]
Être sur le côté (or, flanc) = To be on one’s back, ill.
Mettre les rieurs de son côté = To turn the laugh against a man.
Vous êtes du bon côté = You are on the right side.
Vous êtes du côté du manche = You are on the winning side.
Donner à côté = To miss the mark.
Depuis sa faillite il file un mauvais coton (fam.) = Since his
failure, his health (or, reputation) has entirely broken down.
On est plus couché que debout = Life is short compared with
eternity.
Je l’ai couché en joue = I aimed at him.
Coucher dans son fourreau = To go to sleep without undressing;
To turn in all standing (nav.).
*Comme on fait son lit, on se couche = As you make your bed, so
you must lie on it.
Se coucher comme les poules = To go to bed with the sun, very
early.
Coucher sur la dure = To lie on the ground, on the floor.
Il ne se mouche pas du coude (fam.) = 1. He is no fool. 2. He
does things in grand style. (See Pied.)
Il a mal au coude (fam.) = He is very lazy. (See Main.)
Avoir les coudées franches = (lit.) To have elbow-room; (fig.)
To have full scope.
On ne sait quelle pièce y coudre = One does not know how to
prevent (or, cure) it.
C’est un homme à la coule (pop.) = He is a smart, knowing chap.
[Compare: Il la connaît dans les coins, celui-là = He knows his
business in every corner.]
[82]
Ce qu’il dit coule de source = What he says comes from the
heart, comes fluently from his lips.
Cela coule de source = That follows naturally.
Couler à fond = (of ships) To founder; (of persons) To be
ruined.
*Il faut laisser couler l’eau = What can’t be cured must be
endured.
Faire les yeux en coulisse = To make sheep’s eyes; To ogle.
*Faire d’une pierre deux coups = To kill two birds with one
stone.
Cette démarche a porté coup = That step told, had its effect.
Sans coup férir = Without striking a blow.
Il a fait un bon coup = He has made a good bargain.
Il vient de faire un mauvais coup = He has just committed a
crime.
Pour le coup il ne m’échappera pas = This time he will not
escape me.
J’irai à coup sûr = I shall go to a certainty.
C’est donner un coup d’épée dans l’eau = It is an unsuccessful
attempt. (See Eau.)
Il m’a porté un coup fourré = He struck me a blow in the dark.
[This is a term derived from fencing; un coup fourré is a
blow struck at an adversary at the same moment that he strikes.]
Le coup vaut la balle = It is worth trying.
Il faut toujours qu’elle donne son coup de patte = She always
makes sarcastic (or, unpleasant) remarks.
C’est un coup monté = It is a pre-arranged affair.
On lui a monté le coup = They induced him to do it; They
deceived him.
Il a bu un coup de trop = He has had a drop too much.
[83]
C’est venu après coup = It came too late, after the event.
Faire les cent coups = To amuse oneself noisily; To play all
sorts of tricks.
Être aux cent coups = To be half mad (distracted) with anxiety;
To be in the greatest difficulties.
C’est un coup qui porte = That is a home-thrust.
Avoir un coup de marteau = To be a little touched.
J’ai écrit trois lettres coup sur coup = I wrote three letters
one after the other.
Un coup de sang = A rush of blood to the head.
Un coup de Jarnac = A treacherous blow; A blow below the belt.
[In a duel before the whole Court in 1547, Gui Chabot, Seigneur de
Jarnac, wounded his adversary, La Châtaigneraie, with an unfair
stroke. La Châtaigneraie refused to survive such an affront, tore
off the bandages placed over his wound, and bled to death.]
Un coup de fouet = (lit.) A crack of a whip; (fig.) A sudden
contraction of the muscles of the leg (or back).
Un coup d’état = A sudden, unexpected act of policy; A violent
change in the Government (e.g. 18 brumaire 1799, or 2 décembre
1851).
Un coup de fion (fam.) = A finishing touch.
Donner le coup de grâce = To give the finishing stroke.
Il gagna mille francs tout d’un coup = He won £40 at one shot,
all at once, at one “go.”
Il s’en alla tout à coup = He went away suddenly, abruptly.
[Tout d’un coup and tout à coup are frequently used
indiscriminately, even by French people.]
Un coup de tête = A moment of passion; a rash action.
[84]
Donner un coup de main = To give a helping hand.
J’ai manqué mon coup = I missed my shot; I failed.
Ils l’ont moulu de coups = They beat him black and blue.
[A well-known quotation from Corneille runs:
“Mes pareils à deux fois ne se font pas connaître
Et pour leurs coups d’essai veulent des coups de maître.”—Le Cid, ii. 2.]
*Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres = There is many a slip
’twixt the cup and the lip.
[The Greek πολλὰ μεταξὺ πέλει κύλικος καὶ χείλεος
ἄκρου is said to have had its origin in the following
circumstances:—Anceaus, an ancient King of Samos, treated with
extreme cruelty his slaves who were planting a vineyard for him;
until at length one more ill-used than the rest prophesied that
for his cruelty he should never drink of its wine. When the first
vintage was over the master bade this slave fill him a goblet,
and, taking it in his hands, he taunted him with the failure of
his prophecy. The slave answered with these words; and as he was
speaking news was brought of a huge wild boar that was wasting the
vineyard. Setting down the untasted cup and snatching up a spear
the master went out to meet the wild boar and was slain in the
encounter. Compare the Latin: Inter calicem et os multa cadunt;
and the Spanish: De la mano a la boca se pierde la sopa.
Other variants in French are:
Entre la bouche et le verre
Le vin souvent tombe à terre.
Vin versé n’est pas avalé.
En amour, en cour, et à la chasse.
Chacun ne prend ce qu’il pourchasse.]
Mettre en coupe réglée = (lit.) To cut down periodically (of
forests); (fig.) To lay regularly under contribution.
Il s’est coupé dans ses réponses = He contradicted himself in
his answers.
Il lui a coupé la parole = He interrupted him.
Son père lui a coupé les vivres = His father stopped his
allowance.
[85]
Ce verre de bière m’a coupé les jambes = My legs feel shaky
after that glass of beer.
Couper un cheveu en quatre = To split hairs.
Coupons le câble = Let us take the decisive step.
[Sieyès, June 10, 1789.]
Cela lui a coupé le sifflet (pop.) = That stopped his mouth;
That shut him up.
Je vais y couper (pop.) = I am going to “cut” that; I am not
going to do it.
Prenez votre courage à deux mains = Summon up all your courage.
Courage! tout finira bien = Cheer up! all will yet be well.
Je vous écrirai fin courant (commercial) = I will write to you
at the end of the present month.
Je ne suis pas au courant de l’affaire = I have not the latest
information on the point; I am not up (well posted) in the matter.
Par le temps qui court = Nowadays; As times go.
Être fou à courir les champs = To be as mad as a March hare.
Nous courons même fortune = We are rowing in the same boat.
“Rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir à point” = It is no
good hurrying if you have not started in time.
[La Fontaine, Le lièvre et la tortue, vi. 10.]
Répondez par retour du courrier = Answer by return of post.
Faire son courrier (commercial) = To write one’s letters.
Il faut lui serrer la courroie = We must curtail his allowance;
We must keep him on short commons.
[86]
Faire du cuir d’autrui large courroie = To be generous with
other people’s money.
Les pièces des États du Pape n’ont plus cours = The coins of
the Papal States are no longer legal tender.
Un capitaine au long cours = A captain of a trading vessel
going to foreign ports.
Je suis resté court = I did not know what to say.
Je l’ai pris à court = I took him unawares.
Il se trouve à court (d’argent) = He is short of money.
Dites cela tout court = Say that and no more.
Il l’a appelé Jean tout court = He called him simply (or,
just) John (without Mr. or surname).
Ils sont à couteaux tirés = They are at daggers drawn.
[Formerly: Ils en sont aux couteaux tirés.]
Aller en Flandre sans couteau = To embark in an enterprise
without the necessary resources.
[Also: Aller aux mûres sans crochet.]
C’est comme le couteau de Jeannot = That is like the Irishman’s
gun (said of anything that has been mended so often as to have
nothing of the original left).
Rien ne lui coûte = He sticks at nothing; He spares no trouble.
Coûte que coûte = Cost what it may.
Coûter les yeux de la tête = To cost a small fortune, a fearful
lot of money.
*Une fois n’est pas coutume = It is only this once; One swallow
does not make a summer; Once does not count.
Il est coutumier du fait = It is not the first time he has done
it.
Ils étaient battus à plate couture = They were beaten hollow.
[87]
Couvercle digne du chaudron = The lid matches the caldron; They
are a precious pair; Arcades ambo.
Mettez le couvert = Lay the cloth (for dinner).
Mettez un couvert de plus = Put another knife and fork (for
another guest); Lay for one more.
C’est son père tout craché (fam.) = He is the very spit (or,
less fam., image) of his father.
Il a craché en l’air et ça lui est retombé sur le nez (pop.) =
He wished to do harm to another but it recoiled on himself.
Il ne crache pas dessus = He does not despise it; He likes it
very much.
Pendre la crémaillère = To give a house warming.
[Crémaillère = tige de fer suspendue au dessus du foyer d’une
cheminée garnie de crans, qui permettent de la fixer plus ou moins
haut, et terminée par un bout recourbé auquel on accroche une
marmite. Compare Longfellow’s poem “The Hanging of the Crane.”]
Le roi Jean a crevé les yeux à Arthur = King John caused
Arthur’s eyes to be put out.
Je ne voyais pas mon livre, cependant il me crevait les yeux =
I did not see my book, yet it was staring me in the face (right
under my nose).
Il n’y a qu’un cri sur son compte = There is only one opinion
about him.
Elle poussa les hauts cris = She screamed at the top of her
voice; She complained loudly.
C’est le dernier cri = It is the last thing out.
Criblé de mitraille = Riddled with grape-shot.
Criblé de dettes = Over head and ears in debt.
Crier famine sur un tas de blé = To cry out for what one has in
plenty.
Plumer la poule sans la faire crier = To fleece a person
adroitly, without his perceiving it.
[88]
Un républicain à tous crins = Every inch a republican.
[Properly of a horse with flowing mane and tail, hence thorough,
strong.]
Il a trente ans, et cependant il vit aux crochets de sa mère =
He is thirty years old, and yet his mother has to keep him.
Il s’en croit beaucoup = He thinks a great deal of himself.
C’est à n’y pas croire = It is not to be believed; It is so
extraordinary (incredible, preposterous) that we can hardly
believe it.
A l’en croire il a eu tous les prix = If he is to be believed
he won all the prizes.
“Et chacun croit fort aisément
Ce qu’il craint et ce qu’il désire.”
= The wish is father to the thought.
[La Fontaine, Fables, i. 6. Le loup et le renard.
Compare 2 Henry IV., iv. 5.
“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.”—Cæsar,
iii. 18.]
Aller au devant de quelqu’un avec la croix et la bannière =
To receive any one with great fuss and ceremony (often used
ironically).
Votre enfant est gentil à croquer = Your child is a charming
little fellow.
Il croquait le marmot = He was dancing attendance; He was
cooling his heels.
[Littré gives as the explanation of this obscure expression that
artists while waiting for their patrons used to draw pictures of
little monkeys (marmot) in the vestibule. Others assert that in
the antechambers of the rich were to be found dishes of cakes in
the form of little monkeys, which visitors used to eat (croquer)
whilst waiting. But both explanations need confirmation.]
S’agenouiller à cru = To kneel on the bare ground, on the cold
stone (without a hassock or carpet).
[Literally, to kneel on the bare knee, but the quality has passed
from the person to the object.]
C’est de son cru = That is of his own creation.
[89]
C’est une vraie cruche (fam.) = She is a silly goose.
Pester entre cuir et chair (fam.) = To fume inwardly.
Faire des cuirs = To drop one’s h’s.
[Really these are faults made by uneducated French people in
pronunciation, consisting in sounding s for t, or vice
versa, when running their words together or in pronouncing these
letters when they do not occur, as: ils étaient zici, for ils
étaient ici.]
Les observations glissent sur lui comme sur une cuirasse =
Blame slips off him as water off a duck’s back.
Vous viendrez cuire à mon four = Some day you will need my
assistance.
Il vous en cuira = You will smart for it.
Avoir son pain cuit = To have one’s bread and cheese, a
competency.
*Au bout du fossé la culbute = At the end of the run comes the
fall.
[This expression refers to those who, from carelessness or
wrong-headedness, are resigned to the consequences of their bad
conduct.]
Cuver son vin = To sleep oneself sober.
D.
Une grande dame de par le monde = A great lady in the eyes of
the world.
[This should be written Une grande dame de la part du monde.
Littré points out that the error in spelling par for part is a
very old one; it would appear to date from the thirteenth century
from the examples he quotes. De par le monde must be derived
from de parte mundi, as de per was never used.]
Damer le pion à quelqu’un = To outwit some one.
[From the game of draughts, dame = a king, pion = a man.]
[90]
Cet homme est son âme damnée = That man does his dirty work for
him, is his tool.
[The man who does the dirty work knows he is damning his soul by
doing it, but does it all the same for the money or interest it
brings him.]
Il n’y a pas de danger = No fear of that; Don’t you fret!
Il ne sait sur quel pied danser = He does not know which way to
turn.
Il en dansera en l’air = He will swing for it.
Danser devant le buffet = To have nothing to eat.
Cet événement date de loin = That event happened long ago.
A vous le dé = It is your turn to play (at dice). [See Avoir.]
Ne nous flattez pas le dé = Speak out without any reserve.
[Flatter le dé is to let the dice slide gently out of the box.]
“Car madame à jaser tient le dé tout le jour” = Madame
engrosses the conversation all day long.
[Molière, Tartufe, i. 1.]
Ils laissèrent tout à la débandade = They left all at sixes and
sevens, in confusion.
Fuir à la débandade = To fly helter-skelter.
Le ministre lui a accordé un débit de tabac = The minister has
given him a license to sell tobacco.
[The sale of tobacco, snuff, gunpowder, and cards is a Government
monopoly in France.]
*Mieux vaut goujat debout qu’empereur enterré = “A living dog
is better than a dead lion.”—Ecclesiastes ix. 4.
[La Fontaine, La Matrone d’Éphèse. Goujat first
meant a soldier’s servant (as here), now it means a hodman, or
bricklayer’s apprentice, hence a vulgar, coarse fellow, a bungler.]
[91]
Cela ne tient pas debout = That won’t hold water.
Il a écrit vingt pages sans débrider = He has written twenty
pages at a stretch.
Il ne faut pas se déchausser pour manger cela = It is not worth
while sitting down to eat that.
[The ancients were in the habit of reclining bare-foot at their
meals.]
*Décoiffer (Découvrir) St. Pierre pour coiffer St. Paul =
To rob Peter to pay Paul.
On a découvert le pot aux roses = They have discovered the
mystery, the secret.
Être à découvert = To be unprotected, undisguised.
Un décrochez-moi-ça (pop.) = A reach-me-down (second-hand
garment).
Elle est tout en dedans = She is not communicative.
On l’a mis dedans (fam.) = 1. They took him in (i.e. they
deceived him). 2. They ran him in (i.e. they put him in prison).
[The second meaning is more often translated: “On l’a coffré.”]
Comme un nigaud, j’ai donné dedans = Like a goose, I fell into
the trap.
Je ne sais si je suis dedans ou dehors = I do not know which
side to take; I do not know whether I have made a profit or not.
Il a le visage défait = He has a pale, worn-out look.
Cette marchandise est d’une bonne défaite = These goods have a
quick sale.
Attaquez-le au défaut de la cuirasse = Attack him on his weak
point.
Défense d’afficher = Stick no bills.
[92]
Défense d’entrer = No admittance.
Défense d’entrer sous peine d’amende = Trespassers will be
prosecuted.
Être brave jusqu’au dégainer = To be brave until it come to
blows.
[Dégainer = to unsheathe a sword.]
Ils auront à se dégourdir ou à déguerpir = They will either
have to wake up or to clear out.
Se dégourdir les jambes = To stretch one’s legs; To go out for
a run.
Faire le dégoûté = To be fastidious, dainty.
Si j’avais la fortune de Rothschild, je serais content.—Vous
n’êtes pas dégoûté! = If I had Rothschild’s fortune I should be
satisfied.—I should rather think so!
Sauver le dehors = To save appearances.
Il n’a pas de dehors = His personal appearance is not
prepossessing; He looks nobody.
En flagrant délit = In the very act; red-handed.
[Lat. In flagrante delicto.]
Déloger sans tambour ni trompette = To leave without beat of
drum.
Avec lui c’est toujours demain = He always procrastinates.
*A beau demandeur beau refuseur = Diamond cut diamond.
[i.e. “If you are not ashamed to ask, I am not ashamed to
refuse.”]
La langue lui démange = He longs to speak; He is dying to put
in a word.
Cet homme n’a pas un denier vaillant = That man is not worth a
brass farthing.
Rendre compte à livres, sous et deniers = To give an account to
the uttermost farthing.
[93]
J’ai les dents bien longues aujourd’hui = I am very hungry
to-day.
Je suis sur les dents = I am done up.
J’ai une dent contre lui = I have a grudge against him.
[Also: Je lui garde un chien de ma chienne (pop.).]
Autant prendre la lune avec les dents = You might just as well
try and scale the moon.
Manger du bout des dents = To eat without an appetite; To eat
daintily.
[“Dente superbo.”—Horace, Satires, ii. 6, 87. Compare:
rire du bout des dents.]
Déchirer quelqu’un à belles dents = To tear a person’s
reputation to shreds.
[Also more forcibly: Passer quelqu’un à tabac.]
*Les folles dépenses refroidissent la cuisine = Wilful waste
makes woeful want.
Qu’il ne vous en déplaise = With your permission; By your
leave; If you’ll allow me; An it please you.
[Sometimes shortened to: Ne vous déplaise, as in La
Fontaine, Fables, i. 1. The sense is often ironical, and
means, “whether you like it or not.”]
Au dépourvu = Unprepared.
Courir comme un dératé = To go like a shot; To run like mad.
[Rate=spleen. The Greeks believed that men and animals ran
faster if their spleen was removed. “On sait que l’extirpation de
la rate se pratiquait chez les coureurs d’antiquité pour éviter
l’essoufflement.”—Couvreur, Les Merveilles du Corps
humain. Comp. Pliny, xxvi. 13.]
Une représentation du dernier vulgaire = A display vulgar to
the last degree; A very low show.
[“Ce que vous dites là est du dernier bourgeois.”
Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules, sc. 5.]
[94]
*Plus on désire une chose, plus elle se fait attendre = A
watched pot never boils.
Cela laisse à désirer = There is room for improvement.
Je suis désorienté = 1. I am disconcerted. 2. I am out of my
element; I do not feel at home; I have lost my bearings.
Je n’ai pas desserré les dents = I never opened my lips.
Par dessus le marché = Into the bargain; Over and above.
Il n’y a rien au dessus de cela = That beats everything.
Sens dessus dessous = All upside down; Topsy-turvy.
Ils ont eu le dessus = They got the best of it.
[Avoir le dessous = to get the worst of it.]
Prendre le dessus = To gain the upper hand.
J’en ai par dessus la tête = I am worried out of my life with
it.
Il le fera par dessus l’épaule = He will never do it.
[Comp. “over the left,” in schoolboy slang.]
Il m’a regardé par dessus l’épaule = He looked at me
contemptuously.
On n’échappe pas à sa destinée = He that is born to be hanged
will never be drowned.
Il est dur à la détente = (fig.) He is close-fisted, a miser.
Il a l’air d’un déterré = He looks as pale as death, as pale as
a ghost.
Faire un détour = To go a roundabout way.
Il est sans détour = He is straightforward.
Il est criblé de dettes = He is head over ears in debt.
[For criblé one finds accablé, perdu, or abîmé.]
[95]
Des dettes criardes = Small debts to trades-people or workmen
(who are continually asking for their money).
J’en ai fait mon deuil = I have resigned myself to the loss of
it.
Maintenant, à nous deux! = Now I will settle with you; Now is
the time for a private explanation; Now to business.
*Deux s’amusent, trois s’embêtent (fam.) = Two’s company,
three’s none.
Tous les deux jours; De deux jours l’un = Every other day.
Piquer des deux = To spur on one’s horse; To rush forward.
*Les premiers vont devant = First come, first served.
Il faut prendre les devants = One must be first in the field.
Allons au-devant de lui = Let us go and meet him.
Mathurin dévide le jars (pop.) = Jack Tar is spinning a yarn.
Il doit au tiers et au quart (à Jean et à Paul) = He owes
money to everybody.
Il doit plus d’argent qu’il n’est gros = He owes more money
than he can pay.
*Qui a terme ne doit rien = No one need pay before a debt is
due.
*Qui ne doit rien n’a rien à craindre = Out of debt, out of
danger.
*A chacun son dû = Give the devil his due; Every man is worth
his hire.
*Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra = Do your duty, come
what may.
Dussé-je en mourir = Were I to die for it.
Chose convenue, chose due = A promise must be kept.
[96]
J’ai jeté mon dévolu sur cela = I have fixed my choice upon
that.
Il n’est de dévotion que de jeune prêtre = Enthusiasm wears out
in time; New brooms sweep clean. (See Balai.)
C’est le diable qui bat sa femme et qui marie sa fille = It is
raining and the sun is shining at the same time.
Tirer le diable par la queue = To be always hard up for a
living.
Faire le diable à quatre = To make a terrible noise; To play
all sorts of tricks. (See Quatre.)
Le diable chante la grand’messe = He hides his vices under the
cloak of religion.
C’est le diable à confesser = It is terribly hard to do.
Il a le diable au corps = He is never still, quite
unmanageable, very energetic.
C’est un air de porter le diable en terre = It is an air to
conjure up the devil.
*Il n’est pas si diable qu’il est noir = The devil is not as
black as he is painted.
[Or: Le diable n’est pas si noir qu’il en a l’air.]
Se démener comme un diable dans un bénitier = To rush about
half-mad.
Loger le diable dans sa bourse = To be penniless. (See
Bourse.)
[“Et logeant le diable en sa bourse,
C’est à dire, n’y logeant rien.”
La Fontaine, Fables, ix. 16.]
Quand le diable fut vieux il se fit ermite = The devil was
sick, the devil a monk would be, The devil was well, the devil a
monk was he!
[Compare the Italian:
Passata il punto, gabbato il santo = The peril past, the saint
mocked.
Also: The river past and God forgotten.]
[97]
Aller au diable Vauvert (corrupted into au vert) = To go very
far away, a devil of a way; To disappear.
[The Carthusians having been given a large building at Gentilly
by St. Louis, coveted the abandoned mansion of Vauvert (= vallon
vert), which they could see from their windows. But to ask for it
without a valid reason was to court refusal. So they caused it to
be haunted by evil spirits, and the king was soon glad to get rid
of this uncanny possession. It is needless to add that the spirits
were exorcised directly the monks took possession. It stood in the
rue de Vauvert, beyond the Luxembourg, which was until lately
called the rue d’Enfer. As this was then a remote suburb of
Paris, the expression was equivalent to going to the end of the
town, and thus, very far off.]
C’est là le diable (or, le hic) = There is the rub.
Elle a la beauté du diable = All her beauty consists in her
youth and freshness.
Fait à la diable (i.e. à la manière du diable) = Done anyhow,
in a slipshod way.
À Dieu ne plaise! = God forbid!
Jurer ses grands dieux = To affirm vehemently; To swear by all
that one holds sacred.
*Ce qui est différé n’est pas perdu = All is not lost that is
delayed.
[German: Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben.]
Voyager par la diligence d’Adam = To travel on shanks’ nag.
[German: Auf Schusters Rappen.]
C’est un franc dindon = He is a thorough goose.
Être le dindon de la farce = To be the dupe.
Pour tout dire = In a word.
C’est tout dire = That is saying all, enough.
[e.g. “Cet homme est-il honnête?”—“Je lui ai prêté 500 fr. il
y a deux ans et il n’a jamais voulu me rendre un sou. C’est tout
dire.”]
Pour ainsi dire = So to speak.
[98]
Je ne vous dis que ça = I cannot tell you any more, but it is a
fact.
[This can also be translated: “I can tell you!” as in “Je me suis
bien amusé, je ne vous dis que ça!”]
Pour mieux dire = Or rather.
Je me le suis tenu pour dit = I took it for granted.
Soit dit entre nous = Quite between ourselves.
Cela est bon à dire, mais... = That is all very well for a
speech, but...; That is all very fine, but...
Il est sensible au qu’en dira-t-on = He is sensitive to public
opinion; He is easily influenced by what people say about him, by
what Mrs. Grundy will say.
Il était dit que j’arriverais trop tard = The Fates had willed
that I should come too late.
Quand je vous le disais! (or, Je vous l’avais bien dit!) = I
told you so!
Ah! vous m’en direz tant! = 1. Well, that alters the case! 2.
Ah! now I understand, why did you not say so at first? 3. There’s
no going against such a reason as that.
[This expression has almost as many meanings as n’est-ce pas.
The above are a few of them. It is often used ironically.]
A qui le dites-vous? = Am I not perfectly aware of it? Don’t I
know it?
Au dire de tout le monde = According to what everybody says;
According to the general opinion.
Je l’irai dire à Rome = It is so unlikely, that if it happens I
will undertake a pilgrimage to Rome; I’ll eat my hat.
[Comp. Racine, Épigramme III. Sur Andromaque.]
Cela ne me dit rien = That has no effect upon me; I have no
desire for it.
On nous donna du vin à discrétion = They gave us as much wine
as we wanted (wine ad libitum).
[99]
La distance grandit tout prestige =
“’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.”
[Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, i. 7.]
Je lui ai donné sur les doigts = I rapped his knuckles (lit.
and fig.).
Il y met les quatre doigts et le pouce = (lit.) He eats
greedily; (fig.) He acts clumsily.
Ils sont comme les deux doigts de la main = They are hand and
glove together, inseparable.
Vous avez mis le doigt dessus = You have hit the right nail on
the head; You have touched the spot.
Mon petit doigt me l’a dit = A little bird told me so.
Il était à deux doigts de la mort = He was at death’s door,
within an ace of death.
Se fourrer le doigt dans l’œil jusqu’au coude (pop.) = To
deceive oneself most blindly; To put one’s foot in it.
Savoir sur le bout du doigt = To know perfectly; To have at
one’s finger-ends.
Il lui obéit au doigt et à l’œil = He is at his beck and
call.
Un doigt de vin (fam.) = A toothful of wine.
C’est dommage! = What a pity.
Ils lui en ont donné tout du long de l’aune = They beat him
black and blue.
Je vous le donne en dix = I bet you ten to one you will not
guess it.
*Qui donne tôt donne deux fois = He gives twice who gives in a
trice.
[“Bis dat qui celeriter dat.”—Publius Syrus. Cito,
which is now used instead of celeriter, appears to be a later
alteration.]
Le régiment a donné = The regiment has engaged.
[100]
On ne lui donnerait pas quarante ans = You would not take him
for forty.
On t’en donnera des tabliers propres pour les salir = You ask
too much.
J’ai passé quinze jours à Paris et je m’en suis donné = I spent
a fortnight in Paris, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
[This idiom implies movement, excitement, &c.]
Dormir sur les deux oreilles = (lit.) To sleep soundly; (fig.)
To have no cause for anxiety.
Dormir comme une marmotte, comme un sabot, comme une souche,
les (or, à) poings fermés = To sleep like a top, like a log.
Dormir la grasse matinée = To lie late in bed.
Il nous a dit des contes à dormir debout = He told us tedious,
nonsensical tales, old wives’ tales.
[“Γραῶν ὕθλος.”—Plato, Rep. 350 E.
“Aniles fabellae.”—Cicero.]
*Qui dort dîne = Sleeping is as good as eating.
*Qui a renommée de se lever matin peut dormir jusqu’à midi = A
good reputation covers a multitude of sins.
Dormir en gendarme = To sleep with one eye open.
*Il ne se laisse pas manger la laine sur le dos = He is not the
man to let himself be made a fool of; He will not allow people to
take the food out of his mouth; He will not tamely submit to any
imposition.
Le juge les a renvoyés dos à dos = The judge nonsuited them
both.
Il fait le gros dos = He gives himself airs.
En dos d’âne = Sloping on both sides, sharp-ridged.
Je me suis mis le juge à dos = I have made an enemy of the
judge.
[101]
J’en ai plein le dos (pop.) = I am sick and tired of it.
Il a bon dos = His back is broad enough to stand a good deal.
C’est un double coquin = He is a thorough rascal.
C’est un homme double = He is a double-faced man.
*Plus fait douceur que violence = Kindness does more than
harshness; More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.
[La Fontaine, Fables, vi. 3.]
Il faudra le prendre en douceur = You must tackle him gently.
Cela ne fait aucun doute = There is no doubt about it.
Dans le doute abstiens-toi = When in doubt, do nothing.
Je ne me doutais de rien = I did not suspect anything.
Je m’en doutais = I thought so.
C’est un poète comme on en trouve à la douzaine = He is a very
minor poet.
[Régnier, Sat. iv.]
Tenir la dragée haute à quelqu’un = To make a person pay well
(or, wait a long time) for what he desires.
Cette femme est un vrai dragon = 1. That woman is a virago. 2.
That woman is very masculine (in appearance and manners).
Je suis dans de beaux draps = I am in a fine mess, in a pretty
pickle.
Il voudrait avoir le drap et l’argent = He would like to have
his cake and eat it too.
Elle a déjà un fils sous les drapeaux = She already has a son
in the army.
[102]
Remettez ceci à qui de droit = Give this to the proper person,
to the person who has a right to it.
Il fera droit à votre demande = He will accede to your request.
Il fait son droit = He is studying for the bar.
C’est un drôle de corps = He is a queer fish.
C’est un mauvais drôle = He is a downright scamp.
Frapper fort et dru = To strike with might and main.
E.
*Il n’est pire eau que l’eau qui dort = Still waters run deep.
*C’est porter de l’eau à la mer (or, rivière) = It is
carrying coals to Newcastle.
[The Greek equivalent was Γλαῦκας εἰς Αθήνας = Owls to
Athens; the Hebrew “Enchantments to Egypt,” and the Late Latin
“Indulgences to Rome.”]
Cet homme aime à pêcher en eau trouble = That man likes fishing
in troubled waters.
*Ils se ressemblent comme deux gouttes d’eau = They are as like
as two peas.
Tout va à vau l’eau = All is going to wreck and ruin.
[A vau l’eau = With the current.]
Pendant l’inondation le toit de cette maison était à fleur
d’eau = During the flood the top of that house was on a level
with the water.
C’est un donneur d’eau bénite de cour = He makes empty promises.
Les eaux sont basses chez lui = He is hard up; He is in low
water.
C’est donner un coup d’épée dans l’eau = It is useless trouble,
an unsuccessful attempt.
[“Ἐν ὕδατι γράφειν.”—Plato, Phaedrus, 276
C.]
[103]
Faire venir l’eau au moulin = To bring grist to the mill.
Faire venir l’eau à la bouche = To make one’s mouth water.
*L’eau va toujours au moulin = Property always goes to those
who have some already; Money makes money; Nothing succeeds like
success.
D’ici là il passera bien de l’eau sous le pont = It will be a
long time before that happens.
Mettre de l’eau dans son vin = (fig.) To come down a peg.
*L’eau qui tombe goutte à goutte cave la pierre = Dropping
water will wear away a stone.
[Ovid begins a line with “Gutta cavat lapidem” an abbreviation of
the proverb “Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo.”
“Stillicidi casus lapidem cavat.”—Lucretius, i. 313.]
*Une goutte d’eau suffit pour faire déborder un vase plein =
The last straw breaks the camel’s back.
Nager entre deux eaux = (lit.) To swim under water; (fig.) To
run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
Faire eau (of boats) = To spring a leak.
Faire de l’eau (of boats) = To take in fresh water.
Laissez couler l’eau = Do not be anxious about what cannot be
helped; Don’t cry over spilt milk.
Cela s’en est allé en eau de boudin = That collapsed utterly,
came to nothing.
[The more correct form is s’en aller en aune de boudin, alluding
to Perrault’s tale of Les Souhaits Ridicules.]
Ce mot m’est échappé = That word escaped me inadvertently
(i.e., I did not mean to say it).
Ce mot m’a échappé = I have forgotten that word.
[104]
Le cas échéant = Should such a thing happen; If such should be
the case.
Faire la courte échelle à quelqu’un = To allow some one to
climb on one’s shoulders to scale a height; To give a lift to
some one.
Après lui il faut tirer l’échelle = One cannot do better than
he has (or, does); He beats the record, takes the cake.
Faire l’école buissonnière = To play truant.
Faire une école = To make a blunder.
Faire école = To found (or, to be a leader of) a school of
art, literature, music, &c.
Faire un tour d’écolier = To play a schoolboy trick.
Faire une faute d’écolier = To make a foolish mistake.
*Il n’y a pas de petites économies = A penny saved is a penny
earned; Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of
themselves.
[Also: Les petites économies font les bonnes maisons.]
*Jamais beau parler n’écorcha la langue = Fair words never did
harm; Civility costs nothing.
Il écorche le français = He murders French.
Il écorche l’anguille par la queue = He sets (goes) the wrong
way to work.
Il fait un vent à écorner (or, décorner) un bœuf = The
wind is enough to blow one’s head off.
Chacun a payé son écot = Each paid for himself.
Comme cet homme s’écoute! = What care that man takes of himself!
C’est un écoute s’il pleut = He is a man who cannot be relied
upon.
[Mills were so called which depended for their motive-power on
rain-water and consequently were continually stopping.]
[105]
Il n’écoute que d’une oreille = He pays very little attention.
Écrire de bonne encre à quelqu’un = To write to some one in
strong terms.
Être propre comme une écuelle de chat = To be very dirty.
*Fermer l’écurie quand les chevaux sont dehors = To lock the
stable door when the steed is stolen.
C’est un cheval à l’écurie = It is a white elephant.
Cela fait de l’effet = That looks well; That is showy; That
makes a fine display.
Cela me fait cet effet = That seems so to me.
Cela m’est égal = It is all the same to me; I don’t care.
Tout lui est égal = Everything is the same to him.
D’égal à égal = 1. Between equals. 2. On equal terms.
C’est égal, je me suis joliment amusé = Anyhow (All the same),
I enjoyed myself very much.
*Près de l’église, loin de Dieu = The nearer the church, the
farther from God.
Gueux comme un rat d’église = As poor as a church mouse.
Prendre son élan = To take one’s spring (before a jump).
Ne faites donc pas tant d’embarras = Do not make such a fuss.
Ce n’est pas l’embarras = There is no great difficulty in it;
After all; For the matter of that.
Elle n’a que l’embarras du choix = She has only too much to
choose from.
[106]
La loi passa d’emblée = The law passed straight off, by
acclamation.
Il a été reçu d’emblée = He passed his examination the first
time he went up, without any difficulty.
*Qui trop embrasse mal étreint = Grasp all, lose all.
[“Qui totum vult totum perdit.”—Publius Syrus.
Qui tout convoite tout perd.
L’avarice rompt le sac.
Too much is stark naught.
“Oh, the little more, and how much it is!
And the little less, and what worlds away!”
Browning, Dramatic Lyrics,‘By the Fireside,’ 39.]
Il a employé le vert et le sec pour y parvenir = He left no
stone unturned to secure success.
S’emporter comme une soupe au lait = To be very hasty-tempered.
Ne faites pas attention à ses menaces, autant en emporte le
vent = Pay no attention to his threats, they are as light as air.
Emporter ses cliques et ses claques = To clear off, bag and
baggage.
C’est une réponse à l’emporte-pièce = It is a very cutting
answer, and to the point.
[À l’emporte-pièce = Cut out by a machine-punch.]
Cela m’emporte la bouche = It burns my mouth (i.e. it is too
highly spiced).
Il fait l’empressé auprès de sa vieille tante = He pays marked
attention to his old aunt.
Elle a un air emprunté = She looks awkward, embarrassed,
affected.
Ne choisit pas qui emprunte = Beggars cannot be choosers.
[“Qui empruncte ne choisist mie.”
Maistre Pierre Pathelin, 79.]
[107]
Casser le nez à quelqu’un à coups d’encensoir = To flatter some
one fulsomely to his face. (See Casser.)
Payer la folle enchère = To pay for one’s rashness, for one’s
folly.
[When a man bids at an auction and does not pay for what he has
bought, the lot is put up again and he has to pay the difference
(if any) between the price it is then sold at and the price he bid
for it.]
Enchère au rabais = A Dutch auction.
Je suis entre l’enclume et le marteau = I am in a dilemma; I am
between the devil and the deep sea.
*Il frappe toujours sur la même enclume = He is always harping
on the same string.
*A dure enclume marteau de plume = The strokes of adversity
find the wise man unmoved.
[“Impavidum ferient ruinae.”
Horace, Odes, iii. 3.]
Frapper au bon endroit = To touch the right spring; To hit the
right nail on the head; To hit the mark; To touch the spot.
Des gens endimanchés = Folk rigged out in their Sunday best.
Des enfants perdus (military) = A forlorn hope.
Un enfant terrible = A child who tells awkward truths.
[Gavarni, the caricaturist, published a series of sketches in 1865
under the title of “Les Enfants Terribles.”]
Elle a deux enfants du premier lit = She has two children by
her first husband.
C’est un enfant de la balle = He is his father’s son; He
follows the profession of his father. (See Balle.)
C’est bien l’enfant de sa mère = He is the very image of his
mother.
Faire l’enfant = To behave childishly (on purpose).
[108]
Je ne suis pas ici pour enfiler des perles = I am not here to
waste my time.
Cela ne s’enfile pas comme des perles = That is by no means an
easy matter.
C’est un enfonceur de portes ouvertes = 1. He is a braggart. 2.
He takes a deal of trouble to solve a difficulty which does not
exist.
Être pris dans l’engrenage = To be caught in the toils.
On enleva les journaux comme du pain = The papers sold like hot
rolls, like wild-fire.
Il n’y a pas de petit ennemi = Every enemy is to be feared.
[“Croire qu’un faible ennemi ne peut pas nuire, c’est croire
qu’une étincelle ne peut pas causer un incendie.” Sa’adi.]
Nous sommes logés à la même enseigne = We are both in the same
predicament, in the same boat.
[“ἐν γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ ἐσμεν σκάμματι.”
St. Clement’s Epistle to the Church of Corinth.]
À telles enseignes = In proof whereof; So much so that.
Je ne le croirai qu’à bonnes enseignes = I shall only believe
it upon good authority.
Il entend à demi mot = He can take a hint.
*À bon entendeur, salut = A word to the wise is enough; Verbum
sap.
[“A bon entendeur ne fault qu’une parole.”—Rabelais,
Pantagruel, v. 7.]
Il n’entend pas de cette oreille = (fig.) He will listen to
nothing on that subject.
Vous ne vous y entendez pas = You do not know how to set about
it, how to manage it.
Il n’entend pas raillerie là-dessus = 1. You must not speak
lightly of that before him. 2. He will not be trifled with on
that point.
[109]
Entendre la raillerie = To know how to be witty; To be a good
hand at chaff.
Entendre raillerie = Not to be offended at a joke; To stand
chaff well.
Il n’y entend pas malice = 1. He does not mean any harm; He
means no more than he says. 2. He takes it innocently.
Faire l’entendu = To put on a knowing look.
*Il n’est pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre = None
so deaf as those who will not hear.
Un mot à double entente = A word (or, remark) with two
meanings.
*Mieux vaut goujat debout qu’empereur enterré = A living dog is
better than a dead lion.
J’ai bien envie d’aller à Paris avec vous = I have a good mind
to go to Paris with you.
Il ne porte envie à personne = He envies no one.
Il ne fait envie à personne = No one envies him.
Si l’envie m’en prend = If I feel inclined to do it.
Je l’ai envoyé promener (or, fam., paître) = I sent him about
his business.
C’est son épée de chevet = 1. That is his trusty counsellor. 2.
That is what he is always talking about.
[Literally, a sword that hung at the head of a bed to guard one
from nocturnal attacks.
“Voilà leur épée de chevet, de l’argent.”—Molière,
L’Avare, iii. 5.]
Passer au fil de l’épée = To put to the sword.
Qui porte épée porte paix = One sword keeps another in its
scabbard; Si vis pacem, para bellum.
*Mariage d’épervier, la femelle vaut mieux que le mâle = The
grey mare is the better horse.
[110]
Tirer une épine du pied à quelqu’un = To take a thorn out of
some one’s side; To get some one over a difficulty.
Il est toujours tiré à quatre épingles = He always looks as if
he came out of a band-box.
J’ai tiré mon épingle du jeu = I have saved my stake; I got
well out of a bad job.
[Une locution qui vient d’un jeu de petites filles: elles mettent
des épingles dans un rond, et, avec une balle qui, lancée contre
le mur, revient vers le rond, elles essayent d’en faire sortir les
épingles: quand on fait sortir sa mise, on dit qu’on retire son
épingle du jeu.]
Une épingle par jour fait huit sous par an = A pin a day is a
groat a year.
Passons l’éponge là-dessus = Let us say no more about it; Let
us forget all about it; Let bygones be bygones.
C’est un ami à toute épreuve = He is a well-tried, faithful,
trusty friend.
L’édition est épuisée = The book is out of print.
Oh! la belle équipée! = Here’s a pretty kettle of fish!
Se dresser sur ses ergots = To stand on one’s dignity.
Je suis bien dans son esprit = He has a good opinion of me.
Où avez-vous donc l’esprit? = What are you thinking of?
Il a l’esprit aux talons = He shines at the wrong end; He is
not witty.
Il a l’esprit de l’escalier = He never thinks of the right
answer at the proper moment.
[i.e. He thinks of the right answer going down the staircase,
after leaving the room.]
Faire de l’esprit = To try and be witty.
[111]
Il a de l’esprit comme quatre = He is very witty.
L’esprit court les rues = Wit is a drug in the market.
Avoir l’esprit bien fait = To be good-tempered.
Les grands esprits se rencontrent = Great wits always jump
together; We both said the same thing at the same moment.
Essuyer les plâtres = To move into a newly-built house before
the walls are dry; (fig.) To experience the disadvantages of a
beginning.
Avoir l’estomac dans les talons = To be as hungry as a hunter.
Nous faisons peu d’état de cet homme = We consider that man
very little; We take little account of that man.
De son état = By profession, by trade.
Je l’ai mis hors d’état de vous nuire = I have put it out of
his power to harm you.
Pour un rien il se met dans tous ses états (fam.) = He gets
very excited over a mere trifle.
L’État, c’est moi! = The State! I am the State.
[Chéruel, Histoire de l’Administration monarchique en
France, Livre II. p. 32.]
Il y a de l’étoffe dans cet enfant = There is grit in that boy.
Voir des étoiles (la lune) en plein midi = To receive a
violent blow in the eye, so as to “see stars.”
Étourdir la grosse faim = To take the edge off one’s appetite.
Je n’y suis pour personne = I am not at home to anybody.
Je n’y suis pour rien = I have nothing to do with it; I have no
hand in it.
[112]
Vous n’y êtes pas = You do not understand it; “You are out of
it.”
J’y suis, j’y reste = Here I am, here I stop.
[Marshal MacMahon in the trenches before the Malakoff, Sept. 9,
1855.]
Cette fois, ça y est = Now it is done, and no mistake.
Je n’en suis plus = I am no longer one of the party; I no
longer belong to it.
Il n’en a rien été = Nothing came of it.
Il en a été pour sa peine = He had his trouble for nothing.
Il en sera ce qu’il vous plaira = It shall be just as you
please.
Je ne sais plus où j’en suis = 1. I have lost the place where I
left off (in reading, etc.). 2. I do not know what I am about.
Je suis très bien avec lui = I am on very good terms with him.
Êtes-vous de la noce? = Are you one of the wedding party?
Êtes-vous des nôtres = Are you one of our party? Are you one of
us? Do you think as we do?
Voilà ce que c’est que de se mettre en colère = That is the
consequence of losing one’s temper.
Je suis à l’étroit = I am cramped for room.
*On ne peut pas être et avoir été = One cannot have one’s cake
and eat it. (See Drap.)
Tu n’en auras pas l’étrenne = You will not be the first to use
it.
Il a le pied à l’étrier = He is ready to start.
Buvez le coup de l’étrier = Drink the stirrup-cup.
A franc étrier = At full speed. (See Bride and Train.)
C’est l’Évangile (or, c’est parole d’Évangile) = It is gospel
truth.
[113]
*Qui s’excuse, s’accuse = If you try to excuse yourself you
practically acknowledge that you have done wrong; A guilty
conscience needs no accuser.
Excusez du peu (ironic.) = Only that? How modest!
Il prêcha d’exemple = He practised what he preached; He set the
example.
*Peu de leçons, beaucoup d’exemples = Precepts lead, examples
draw; It is easiest learning at another’s cost.
*Expérience passe science = Experience is the best master;
Experientia docet.
[“Experience is the best of schoolmasters, only the school fees
are heavy.” Carlyle, Misc. Essays, i. 137.]
Les extrêmes se touchent = Extremes meet; Too far east is west;
Too much care may be as bad as downright negligence.
F.
C’est de sa fabrique = That is of his invention.
Marque de fabrique = Trade-mark.
Il fera face à tout = He will meet every demand.
Ce portrait est pris de face = That portrait is taken full face.
Jouer à pile ou face = To play at heads or tails, pitch and
toss.
Il le regarda bien en face = He looked him straight in the face.
Donner un ouvrage à façon = To put out a job to be done.
On travaille à façon (of small tailors, etc.) = People’s own
materials made up.
[114]
C’est un conte de sa façon = It is a story of his own invention.
Maintenant qu’il est riche, il s’en donne de la bonne façon =
Now he is rich, he refuses himself nothing.
Je lui dirai ma façon de penser = I’ll give him a piece of my
mind.
Une façon de parler = A form of speech; A way of speaking (not
to be taken literally).
[e.g. “Quand je dis qu’il n’est jamais venu en Angleterre c’est
une façon de parler, car il a passé huit jours à Douvres il y a
dix ans.”]
Cet homme n’a ni mine ni façon = That man has neither grace nor
good looks; That man is as awkward as he is ugly.
C’est lui qui fait les sottises et c’est moi qui en paye la
façon = He commits the mistakes and I have to pay for them.
Il a bonne façon = He has good style; He is well got up.
De toute façon il a tort = At any rate he is wrong; Whichever
way you look at it, he is wrong.
Sans façon = Without ceremony, without fuss.
De façon ou d’autre = Somehow or other.
C’est un vrai fagot d’épines = He is a regular bear.
*Il y a fagots et fagots = There are men and men; All men are
not alike.
[Molière, Le Médecin malgré lui, i. 6.]
Sentir le fagot = 1. To be tainted with heresy (obsolete). 2.
Not to be quite honest.
Comme vous voilà fagotée! = How awkwardly you are dressed! What
a fright (or, dowdy) you look!
[“Pour moi, quand une femme a le don de se taire,
Eût-elle en vrai magot tout le corps fagoté,
Je lui voudrais donner le prix de la beauté.”
Corneille, Le Menteur.]
[115]
J’ai failli tomber = I very nearly fell.
C’est la faim qui épouse la soif = They are both very poor; It
is one beggar marrying another.
*La faim chasse le loup hors du bois = Hunger tames the lion;
Hunger will break through stone walls.
Rien n’y fait = Nothing has any effect upon him (or, on it);
It is all of no use.
Comment est-il fait? = What sort of a man is he?
*Ce qui est fait est fait = It is no good crying over spilt
milk.
*On ne peut faire qu’en faisant = Practice makes perfect.
Faire la Saint-Lundi = To do no work on Monday. (See Lundi.)
[Colloquially: Faire le Lundi.]
Tâchez de faire quelques provisions = Try and collect some
provisions.
Faire dix ans de travaux forcés = To undergo ten years’ penal
servitude.
Il est bon de se faire à la fatigue = It is good to accustom
oneself to fatigue.
Coquelin fait le rôle principal = Coquelin is taking the
principal part.
On le fait riche = He is said to be rich.
Cela ne me fait ni chaud ni froid = It is all the same to me.
Je n’ai que faire de vos conseils = I do not care a jot for
your advice; I do not want your advice.
*Qui bien fera, bien (se) trouvera = Who works well will
have a good reward.
Il ne faut pas me la faire (pop.) = You must not try that on
with me.
Combien faites-vous cette étoffe? = How much are you asking for
this stuff?
[116]
Il aime à ce qu’on fasse cas de lui = He likes to be made a
fuss of.
Il fait bien son chemin = He is getting on in the world.
Ils ne font qu’un = They are hand and glove together.
Cela fait beaucoup = That makes a great difference.
Cela me fait sortir des gonds = That exasperates me.
Il faut faire mousser sa marchandise = One must puff one’s
goods.
Qu’est-ce que cela me fait? = What is that to me?
Faire huit kilomètres à pied, à cheval, en voiture = To walk,
ride, drive, five miles.
Le vert fait bien avec le rose = Green goes well with pink;
Pink and green are fit for a queen.
Faire des siennes = To be at one’s old tricks.
Il n’en fait qu’à sa volonté = He is self-willed.
C’est à faire à vous de réussir = You are the man to succeed.
C’en est fait de lui = He is done for; It is all up with him.
Ce qui est fait n’est pas à faire = Better to finish it now
than to leave it.
Ce n’est ni fait ni à faire = It is done, but badly, (in a
slovenly fashion).
Il fait cher vivre à Londres = Living in London is dear.
Que faire? = What am I (or, are we) to do? What is to be done?
Pourquoi faire? = What for?
Comment faire? = What is to be done?
Que voulez-vous que j’y fasse? = How can I help it? What would
you have me do? It is no business of mine.
Je ne saurais qu’y faire = I cannot help it.
[117]
A chose faite point de remède = What is done cannot be undone.
Laissez-le faire = Do not interfere with him.
Si faire se peut = If possible.
Cela ne fait rien = That does not matter.
Il n’en fera rien = He will do nothing of the sort.
Je m’y fais = I am getting used to it.
C’est bien fait = It serves him (or, her, you) right.
Quel temps fait-il? = What is the weather like?
Quel temps il fait! = What weather this is!
Paris ne s’est pas fait en un jour = Rome was not built in a
day.
Il s’est fait jardinier = He became a gardener.
Elle se fait vieille = She is getting old.
Pour se faire la main = To get one’s hand in (i.e. to get
accustomed to the work).
Se faire jour à travers la foule = To force one’s way through
the crowd.
Je me fais fort de le faire = I feel quite confident of doing
it.
Coquelin sait le mieux se faire une tête = Coquelin is the
cleverest at altering his features, at making up.
Cela se fait maintenant = That is the fashion now.
Cela ne se fait pas = That is not proper; That is not the
correct thing.
C’est un faiseur d’embarras = He is a fussy personage.
Cela est de mon fait = That is my doing.
Venons au fait = Let us come to the point.
Mettez-moi au fait de ce qui s’est passé = Tell me what
happened.
Il lui a dit son fait = He told him what he thought of him
(not complimentary); He gave him a bit of his mind.
[118]
Si fait! = Yes, indeed! On the contrary!
Cette place est votre fait = That situation is just the thing
for you.
Je suis sûr de mon fait = I am sure of what I am saying; I know
what I am about.
C’est un fait accompli = It is done and cannot be undone.
Travailler à prix fait (or, à forfait) = To work at an agreed
price; To work by the piece.
Prendre quelqu’un sur le fait = To take any one in the act.
Il a pris fait et cause pour moi = He stood up for me; He took
my part.
L’homme qu’il faut = The very man (for a post).
Il le faut = It must be so.
Il fallait voir comme il était content = You should have seen
how happy he was.
Peu s’en fallut qu’il ne fût reçu = He was all but received; He
failed for a few marks.
[Latin: Haud multum abfuit quin....]
C’est un homme comme il faut = He is a perfect gentleman.
C’est un homme comme il en faut = He is one of the right sort.
[Sometimes in bad sense: He is the sort of man we want to do that
dirty work.]
C’est un homme comme il en faudrait beaucoup = I wish more
men were like him (because of his straightforward or courageous
nature).
S’il n’est pas un fripon, il ne s’en faut guère = If he is not
a rascal, he is precious near it.
Il s’en faut beaucoup que l’un ait autant de mérite que l’autre
= There is a great difference in merit between the two.
[119]
Il s’en faut de beaucoup que leur nombre soit complet = Their
number is far from being complete.
[The former of these two idioms should refer to quality, the
latter to quantity.]
Des gens de même farine = Persons of the same kidney (generally
in a bad sense); People tarred with the same brush.
“Le bruit est pour le fat, la plainte pour le sot,
L’honnête homme trompé s’éloigne et ne dit mot,”
= Rows are for muffs, ’tis only fools complain.
The gentleman deceived will grin and bear the pain.
[La Noue, La Coquette corrigée, i. 3 (1756).]
Rien ne vous fera faute = You will want for nothing.
Il ne se fait faute de rien = He denies himself nothing.
C’est une faute d’inattention = It is a slip.
C’est une faute d’impression = It is a misprint.
Il ne se fait pas faute de se plaindre = He complains freely.
Faute de mieux = For want of something better.
Chanter faux = To sing out of tune.
Faire un faux pas = (lit.) To stumble; (fig.) To make a slip;
To commit a mistake.
Vous faites fausse route = You are taking the wrong road; You
are on the wrong track.
Cette poutre porte à faux = That beam does not rest properly on
its support.
Cette remarque a porté à faux = That remark was not to the
point, was not conclusive.
Faux comme un jeton = As false as Judas; As false as a die.
Je m’inscris en faux contre cette assertion = I emphatically
deny the truth of that assertion.
C’est la fée Carabosse = She is an old hag.
[120]
*Les pots fêlés sont ceux qui durent le plus = The door with
the creaking hinge hangs longest; The cracked pitcher goes
oftenest to the well.
*Femme qui parle comme homme et geline qui chante comme coq ne
sont bonnes à tenir =
A whistling woman and a crowing hen
Are good for neither cocks nor men.
[“C’est chose qui moult me deplaist,
Quand poule parle et coq se taist.”
Roman de la Rose.
“La poule ne doit pas chanter devant le coq.”
Molière, Les Femmes Savantes, v. 3.]
*Prends le premier conseil d’une femme et non le second = A
woman’s instinct is better than her reason.
[Montaigne coined the phrase l’esprit primesautier to describe
this feminine peculiarity of either seeing a thing at once or not
at all.]
Femme sotte se connaît à la cotte = A foolish woman is known by
her finery.
Ce que femme veut Dieu le veut = Woman must have her way.
*Souvent femme varie,
Bien fol est qui s’y fie =
Between a woman’s yes and no,
There’s no room for a pin to go.
A woman’s mind
And winter wind
Change oft.
[These words are said to have been written by François I. on two
little leaded panes in his room at the castle of Chambord, about
ten miles from Blois. Brantôme says that while talking with his
sister, Marguerite d’Angoulême, he engraved the saying with a
diamond ring. Report has it that Louis XIV. broke the glass with
his stick at the request of Mademoiselle de la Vallière. However
that may be, the visitor to Chambord will see that the words have
been rewritten on the window.]
Ciel pommelé et femme fardée ne sont pas de longue durée = A
mackerel sky, not long wet and not long dry.
[121]
Il faut passer par là ou par la fenêtre = It is absolutely
inevitable.
*Il faut battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud = You must
strike while the iron is hot.
[“Ce pendant que le fer est chault il le fault
battre.”—Rabelais, Pantagruel, ii. 31.]
Cela ne vaut pas les quatre fers d’un chien = That is not worth
a rap, a fig (i.e., nothing, for a dog is not shod).
Il tomba les quatre fers en l’air = (lit.) He fell on his back;
(fig.) He was struck all of a heap.
Il y a quelque fer qui cloche = There is a hitch somewhere. (See
Clocher.)
Sans coup férir = Without striking a blow.
Il est ferré sur la géographie = He is well up in geography.
*Ce n’est pas tous les jours fête = Christmas comes but once a
year.
Faire fête à quelqu’un = To welcome some one heartily.
Je me fais une fête de passer huit jours à la campagne = I
look forward with pleasure to the idea of spending a week in the
country.
Il n’a ni feu ni lieu = He has neither house nor home.
L’ennemi mit le pays à feu et à sang = The enemy put the
country to fire and sword.
Je n’y ai vu que du feu = It was impossible for me to find out
how the thing was done (as it was done so quickly); It was done
so quickly (or, cleverly) that I could not make head or tail of
it.
Vous me faites mourir à petit feu = You are killing me by
inches; You are torturing me to death.
[122]
Il ne faut pas jouer avec le feu = One should not play with
edged tools.
Il n’est feu que de bois vert = None are so active as the young.
Il jette feu et flamme = He frets and fumes; He is in a great
rage.
Faire feu des quatre pieds = To strain every nerve.
Ce n’est qu’un feu de paille = It is only a flash in the pan;
It will not last.
Il a jeté tout son feu = 1. His anger is over now. 2. He has
used up all his ideas.
C’est le feu et l’eau = They are as opposite as fire and water.
Faire feu = To fire (rifles, guns).
Faire du feu = To light a fire.
*Il a trouvé la fève au gâteau = He has hit the mark; He has
made a lucky discovery.
[It was (and is still in many places) the custom to hide a bean
in the cake on Twelfth Night, and the person who found it was the
king of the revels.
“Pensent avoir trouvé la fève du gasteau.”
Régnier, Satires, vii.]
*Donner un pois pour avoir une fève = To give a sprat to catch
a herring. (See Œuf.)
Fier comme Artaban (or, comme un Écossais) = As proud as a
peacock.
[Artaban was the hero of Cléopâtre, a romance by La
Calprenède, a Gascon. The phrase is also said to be derived
from Artabanes, King of Parthia. “Plus fier que tous les
Artabans.”—Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, i. 2.]
*Tomber de fièvre en chaud mal (or, de la poêle dans la
braise, de Charybde en Scylla) = To fall out of the frying-pan
into the fire.
[“Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim.”—Compare
Homer, Od. xii. 85.
“Thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your
mother.”—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, iii. 5.]
[123]
*Moitié figue, moitié raisin = 1. Partly willingly, partly by
force. 2. Half one thing and half another. 3. Half in jest, half
in earnest.
[This expression is often used of a remark that may be
complimentary or not.]
Je lui donnerai du fil à retordre = I will cut out his work for
him; I will give him a deal of trouble.
Ce sont des finesses cousues de fil blanc = Those tricks are
easily found out.
*A toile ourdie Dieu envoie le fil = God sends thread for a
begun web.
Au fil de l’eau = With the stream.
Au fil de l’épée = To the edge of the sword.
Filer à l’anglaise = To leave without saying good-bye, without
attracting attention; To take French leave.
*Du temps que Berthe filait = When Adam delved and Eve span; In
the good old times.
[Berthe was the mother of Charlemagne. She was known as Berthe au
grand pied from her club foot.]
Filer doux = To sing small.
Il faut filer (or, Filons!) (fam.) = We must be off, trot off.
La plus belle fille du monde ne peut donner que ce qu’elle a =
No man can give more than he has; A man cannot give what he has
not got.
*Quand on a des filles, on est toujours berger =
My son is my son till he gets him a wife,
My daughter’s my daughter all the days of her life.
*Fille oisive, à mal pensive = An idle brain is the devil’s
workshop.
[“For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.”
Isaac Watts, Divine Songs, xx.]
[124]
Fille trop vue, robe trop vêtue,
N’est pas chère tenue. |
} |
= |
{ |
A maid often seen, a garment often worn,
Are disesteemed and held in scorn. |
Il est bien le fils de son père = He is a chip of the old block.
Être le fils de ses œuvres = To be a self-made man.
Fin (subst.)
À la fin vous voilà! = Here you are at last!
À la fin des fins (or, en fin finale) vous nous direz
quelque chose = At last you will tell us something.
À telle fin que de raison = At all events; At any rate.
*La fin couronne l’œuvre = The end crowns all; All’s well
that ends well.
*Qui veut la fin veut les moyens = Where there is a will there
is a way; If you want the end you must not stick at the means.
*La fin justifie les moyens = Success justifies the means by
which it has been attained.
Il touche à sa fin = He is nearing his end; It is nearly over.
*En toutes choses il faut considérer la fin = We must always
look to the end; Look before you leap.
[La Fontaine, Fables, iii. 5. The motto of the Kennedy
family is “Look to the end,” or “Avise la fin.”]
C’est fin de siècle = That is smart, up to date.
[This expression came to the front in Paris about the time of the
1889 Exhibition. In 1890 appeared a play called “Paris fin de
siècle,” by Blum and Toché, in which occur these words: “C’est
un mot nouveau qui dit très bien ce qu’il veut dire. Le siècle
n’a plus que dix ans à vivre et, vois-tu, il veut les passer
gaiement.” The saying, however, has lost its sense, and is
becoming obsolete now that a new century has begun.]
[125]
Il sait le fort et le fin de son art = He knows every trick of
his trade.
Plus fin que lui n’est pas bête = He who can take him in is no
fool.
J’arrive du fin fond de l’Afrique = I have come from the very
depths of Africa.
C’est une fine mouche (or, lame) = He is a cunning fellow, a
sly dog. (See Compère.)
C’est fin contre fin = It is diamond cut diamond.
[Also: Fin contre fin ne vaut rien pour doublure.]
Fin contre fin gare la bombe = “When Greeks joined Greeks, then
was the tug of war.”
[Nathaniel Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. 2.]
Dites nous le fin mot = Tell us the secret.
Il a le nez fin = 1. He has a good nose. 2. He is far-sighted,
sagacious.
Jouer au plus fin = To vie in cunning.
Ce sont des disputes à n’en plus finir = Those are endless
quarrels.
C’est un homme flambé = He is a ruined man, a lost man.
Il s’est battu les flancs pour rien = He gave himself all that
trouble for nothing.
Il est sur le flanc = He is laid up, on his back.
Prêter le flanc à des reproches = To lay oneself open to
reproaches.
*De rose flétrie nul ne soucie = The fading rose has no suitor.
C’est la fine fleur de l’armée = It is the cream of the army.
L’affaire passa à fleur de corde = The matter only just
succeeded.
Les yeux à fleur de tête = Goggle eyes (i.e. on a level with
the cheek-bone and fore-head).
À fleur de terre = On a level (or, flush) with the ground.
[126]
À la fleur de l’âge = In the prime of life.
Il a les nerfs à fleur de peau = His nerves are always on the
twitch; He is extremely sensitive.
Conter fleurettes = To say soft nothings.
*Ce qui vient de la flûte s’en va au tambour = Lightly come,
lightly go; What is dishonestly acquired is easily dissipated.
C’est un homme sans foi ni loi = He is a man without honour or
honesty.
Il est de peu de foi = He is not to be trusted.
Ses ouvrages en font foi = His works prove it.
*C’est avec la bonne foi qu’on va le plus loin = Honesty is the
best policy.
La foi du charbonnier = Blind faith.
Je ne puis ajouter foi à ce qu’il dit = I cannot believe what
he says.
Ma foi! = Upon my word!
Mettre du foin dans ses bottes = To feather one’s nest.
[Literally, to place hay in one’s wooden shoes to keep one’s feet
warm. Another saying is Mettre du beurre dans ses épinards.]
Avoir du foin dans ses bottes = To be well off.
Quand il n’y a pas de foin au râtelier, les chevaux se battent
= When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window.
Ce qui me lie, c’est ma folie = Straw bands will tie a fool’s
hands.
Je fais fond sur vous = I rely on you.
Il sait cette langue à fond = He knows that language thoroughly.
Il est ruiné de fond en comble = He is utterly ruined.
Au fond, il a tort = He is wrong in reality.
Courir à fond de train = To run at the top of one’s speed.
[127]
Article de fonds = Leading article (in a newspaper).
Il possède une fortune en bien-fonds = He has a fortune in
landed property.
Il a placé son argent à fonds perdu = He sank his money in an
annuity.
*“Travaillez, prenez de la peine;
C’est le fonds qui manque le moins” =
Work and take pains, that you can always do.
Hard work and pain
Are ne’er in vain.
[La Fontaine, Fables, v. 9.]
*Il ne faut pas dire, “Fontaine, je ne boirai pas de ton eau” =
One must never be sure of not wanting some one (or, something).
[Compare the proverb that Alfred de Musset took for the title of
one of his Proverbes: “Il ne faut jurer de rien.”]
Tu me payeras de gré ou de force = You shall pay me, whether
you like it or not.
Hugo est un romantique dans toute la force du terme = Hugo is a
romanticist in the full sense of the word.
Je suis à bout de force = I am exhausted, played out.
Je ne suis pas de votre force = (lit.) I am not so strong as
you are; (fig.) I am no match for you.
Force m’est de partir = I am compelled to go.
Il faut à toute force l’empêcher de sortir = You must prevent
him going out by all the means in your power; We must do all we
can to prevent him going out.
Il y avait force badauds = A quantity of loafers were there.
*La force prime le droit = Might is right. (See Fort.)
C’est un joueur de première force = He is a first-rate player.
[128]
Force est restée à la loi = The police proved the stronger;
Order was restored.
C’est un cas de force majeure = It is a case of absolute
necessity; It is an utter impossibility.
[e.g. “Le témoin n’a pu venir parce qu’il est dangereusement
malade; son absence est due à un cas de force majeure.”]
Faire force de voiles = To crowd on all sail.
Faire force de rames = To row with all one’s might.
*Tout par amour, rien par force = Sweet words will succeed
where mere strength will fail; You may row your heart out if wind
and tide are against you.
À force de travailler = By dint of working.
À force de bras = By strength of arm.
De vive force = By main force.
Un tour de force = A feat (of strength or skill).
*À force de forger on devient forgeron = Practice makes
perfect; Drawn wells are seldom dry.
[Lat. Fit fabricando faber.]
Cela est trop fort (or, raide) = That is too bad; That is
beyond a joke.
Cela est par trop fort = That is really too bad.
[This par is derived from the Latin intensive particle per,
as in perhorridus. In French one finds such words as parfaire,
parachever, and in old French this prefix was separable. Thus,
tant il est parsage might be written tant il par est sage. So,
Cela est par trop fort = Cela est trop parfort.]
C’est un esprit fort = He is a freethinker.
Voilà qui est fort = That is rather strong.
Ça, ce n’est pas fort = That is very tame; There is not much in
that.
[129]
A plus forte raison = All the more reason; A fortiori.
Il faut que je parle, c’est plus fort que moi = I must speak, I
cannot help it.
Le plus fort est fait = The worst is over; The most difficult
part is done.
Savoir le fort et le faible de l’affaire = To know the ins and
outs of the matter.
Le fort portant le faible = One thing with another; On an
average.
*“La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure” = Might is
right; There is no arguing with a large fist.
[La Fontaine, Fables, i. 10, Le loup et l’agneau.]
Fort comme un Turc = As strong as a horse.
“Ou tôt ou tard, ou près ou loin,
Le fort du faible a besoin” =
The lion had need of the mouse.
[Génin, Récréations, ii. 250.]
Chacun a dans sa vie un souris de la fortune = Fortune knocks
once at every man’s door.
La fortune rit aux sots = Fools have the best luck.
[“Fortuna fortes adjuvat.”—Livy, xxxiv. 37.]
Voulez-vous accepter la fortune du pot? = Will you take
pot-luck with us?
Faire contre fortune bon cœur = To bear up against
misfortune; To make the best of a bad job.
Cela lui a coûté un argent fou (fam.) = That cost him a heap of
money.
*Combattre un fou est temps perdu = Fools are not to be
convinced.
[Schiller says: “Heaven and Earth fight in vain against a dunce”
(“Mit der Dummheit fechten Götter selbst vergebens.”—Jungfrau
von Orleans), and the Chinese say: “One never needs his wit so
much as when one argues with a fool.”]
[130]
Ne faites pas messagers des fous = “He that sendeth a message
by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage.”
Prov. xxvi. 6.
Un fol ou bête
Fait bien conquête,
Mais bon ménage
C’est fait du sage =
A fool may meet with good fortune, but the wise only profit by it.
*Plus on est de fous plus on rit = The more the merrier.
*Qui ne sait pas être fou n’est pas sage = He is not wise who
does not sometimes make merry; It takes a wise man to make a fool.
*Les fous sont aux échecs les plus proches des rois = In chess
the fool stands next to the king. (Régnier, Sat. xiv.)
[This implies that it is not only at chess that the king is
surrounded by fools, but at court too. It must not be forgotten
that le fou is called the bishop in the English game.]
Il est fou à lier (or, fou furieux) = He is raving mad.
Il vaut mieux être fou avec tous que sage tout seul = “One had
as good be out of the world as out of the fashion.”
[Colley Cibber, Love’s Last Shift, Act ii.]
La Folle du Logis = Fancy, imagination.
Il ne marche qu’à coups de fouet = He works only when he is
compelled.
Fouette, cocher! = Fire away! Go ahead!
Il fait noir comme dans un four = It is as dark as pitch.
[Molière, Le Sicilien, ii.]
Faire un four = To make a blunder.
[131]
Cette pièce a fait four = That piece was a failure, a frost.
On ne peut être au four et au moulin = One cannot be in two
places at the same time.
Une bonne fourchette = A good trencherman.
*La pelle se moque du fourgon = The pot calls the kettle black.
*L’épée (or, la lame) use le fourreau = The mind is too
active for the body.
[“A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy body to decay.”
Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, i.]
Il ne savait où se fourrer = He did not know where to hide his
head.
Il faut qu’il fourre le doigt (or, more fam., nez) partout
= He must have a finger in every one’s pie.
En être pour ses frais = To have lost one’s money (or, pains)
for nothing.
Faire des frais = (lit.) To go to expense; (fig.) To make
efforts to please.
Faire ses frais = To cover one’s expenses.
Faire les frais de la conversation = 1. To keep a conversation
going. 2. To be (oneself) the subject of conversation.
En bon français = (lit.) In good French; (fig.) In plain
English (i.e. without mincing matters).
Parler français comme une vache espagnole = To speak French
very badly.
[This is said to be a corruption of comme un Basque espagnol
(formerly written Vace). The Basques speak French with a very
bad accent, owing to their language having no relation whatever to
the Romance tongues.]
Recevoir quelqu’un à la bonne franquette = To treat a person
without ceremony.
Ronger son frein = To put up with annoyance in silence.
[132]
A vieille mule frein doré = Old women have the finest clothes.
Aimer les friandises (chatteries) = To have a sweet tooth.
Elle frise la quarantaine = She is just upon forty.
Cela se mange froid = (lit.) That is eaten cold; (fig.) That is
a matter of no importance; That is easily done.
Il n’a pas froid aux yeux = He is a plucky fellow.
Il fait un froid de loup = It is terribly cold.
Vous heurtez de front tous ses préjugés = You run counter to
(or, openly attack) all his prejudices.
Il mène plusieurs affaires de front = He carries on several
schemes simultaneously; He has many irons in the fire.
Marcher de front = To walk abreast.
*Qui s’y frotte s’y pique = Whoever meddles with it, will smart
for it.
[Compare the motto of the Order of the Thistle: Nemo me impune
lacessit.]
Je ne vous conseille pas de vous y frotter = I advise you not
to meddle with it.
On l’a frotté d’importance (or, comme il faut) = He got a
good drubbing.
Une bonne fuite vaut mieux qu’une mauvaise attente = Discretion
is the better part of valour.
Manger son pain à la fumée du rôt = To see others enjoying
themselves without joining in.
Il n’y a pas de feu sans fumée = There is no smoke without fire.
[Though the French form is not exact, it is preferred to “il
n’y a pas de fumée sans feu” for rhythmical reasons. Compare
Plautus, Curculio, i. 1, 53, “Flamma fumo est proxima.”]
[133]
Au fur et à mesure = In proportion as.
Cela fait fureur maintenant = That is quite the rage now; That
is all the go now.
Changer son fusil d’épaule = To change one’s opinion,
profession, tactics.
[A more familiar expression is retourner sa veste = to be a
turn-coat.]
G.
Faire une gaffe = To put one’s foot in it; To make a stupid
blunder.
*La gageure est la preuve des sots =
“Most men (till by losing rendered sager),
Will back their own opinions with a wager.”
[Byron, Beppo, 27.]
*Qui épargne gagne = A penny saved is a penny earned.
Il gagne à être connu = He improves upon acquaintance.
Il est gai comme un pinson = He is as merry as a grig, as a
lark.
Il est gai comme un bonnet de nuit (ironic.) = He is as dull as
ditchwater. (See Bonnet.)
De gaieté de cœur = Out of pure wantonness.
Être sur le gaillard d’avant = To serve before the mast; To be
a common seaman.
Vogue la galère! = Happen what may! “Go it, ye cripples!”
*“Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?” = Whatever
induced him to get into that fix? Whatever business had he there?
[Molière, Fourberies de Scapin, ii. II,
imitated from a scene of Le Pédant joué by Cyrano de Bergerac,
as is noted by M. Edmond Rostand in his play, “Cyrano de
Bergerac,” v. 6:
Rag. Hier on jouait Scapin
Et j’ai vu qu’il vous a pris une scène.
Le Bret. Entière!
Rag. Oui, Monsieur, le fameux: “Que diable allait-il faire?”
[134]
In Molière, Scapin, the amusing but rascally servant of farce,
in order to obtain more money out of Géronte, the father of his
young master, Léandre, pretends that the latter has been taken
prisoner on board a Turkish galley and that the captain demands
500 crowns as ransom. Géronte in the dilemma of losing either his
money or his son, at last parts with his treasured gold, but not
without repeating several times in heartfelt sorrow, “Que diable
allait-il faire dans cette galère?”]
*Il ne faut qu’une brebis galeuse pour infecter tout un
troupeau = One scabby sheep will taint a whole flock.
*Qui se sent galeux, se gratte (fam.) = If the cap fits, wear
it. (See Morveux.)
Quand on prend du galon on n’en saurait trop prendre = As well
be hanged for a sheep as a lamb; One cannot make too much of a
favourable opportunity.
[This is a parody of a line in Quinault’s Roland, ii. 5: “Quand
on prend de l’amour, on n’en saurait trop prendre.”]
Il s’en donne les gants = He takes the credit of it.
[It was the custom to give a pair of gloves to the messenger who
first brought a piece of good news.]
Cela me va comme un gant = That fits me to a T; That suits me
down to the ground.
Vous voilà joli garçon! = A pretty fellow you are!
Mon chien est de bonne garde = Mine is a good watch-dog.
Ces poires sont de bonne garde = These pears will keep well.
Il n’a garde de venir = He will take care to keep away; There
is no chance of his coming.
Il vous en garde une bonne (pop.) = He is keeping a rod in
pickle for you.
Gardez-vous en bien! = Mind you do not do it!
Ce garçon gaspille son temps = That boy fools his time away.
[135]
Geler à pierre fendre = To freeze very hard.
Faire gémir la presse (ironic.) = To print one’s writings.
Il est sans gêne = He is free and easy (casual, off-hand); He
makes himself too much at home.
*Où il y a de la gêne il n’y a pas de plaisir (ironic.) = There
is nothing like making one’s self at home everywhere.
Il a connu la gêne = He knows what want is.
Est-ce que je vous gêne? = Am I in your way?
Ne vous gênez pas! = Do not stand upon ceremony! Make yourself
at home! Don’t mind me!
Il ne se gêne guère = Doesn’t he make himself at home! Well, he
is a cool customer!
Il est plus gênant que gêné = His free and easy manners are
unpleasant to others, but he does not mind that.
*A gens de village, trompette de bois = Rough tools for rough
work.
*C’est là que gît le lièvre = That is the main point; There’s
the rub.
C’est un gibier de potence = He is a gallows-bird.
“J’aime mieux, n’en déplaise à la gloire,
Vivre au monde deux jours que mille ans dans l’histoire.”
Molière, La Princesse d’Élide, i. 2.
Contrast:
“One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.”
Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Chap. 34.
Cela me fait sortir des gonds = That exasperates (unhinges) me.
Cette fumée me prend à la gorge = That smoke makes me cough,
chokes me.
[136]
Il cria à pleine gorge = He cried out as loud as he could.
Il fera des gorges chaudes du malheur de sa tante = He will
chuckle over (or, make fun of) his aunt’s misfortune.
[“Prétend qu’elle en fera gorge chaude et curée.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iv. 12.]
Rendre gorge = To have to pay back money unjustly acquired; To
disgorge one’s ill-gotten gains.
Ce jeune homme jette sa gourme = That young man is sowing his
wild oats.
*Des goûts et des couleurs il ne faut (pas) discuter =
There is no disputing about tastes.
*À chacun son goût = Tastes differ.
[Colloquially the à is omitted and the phrase becomes chacun
son goût. The Dictionnaire de l’Académie gives: Chacun a son
goût.]
Je n’y vois goutte = I cannot see at all.
*Goutte à goutte on emplit la cuve = Many a little makes a
mickle.
*Ils se ressemblent comme deux gouttes d’eau = They are as like
as two peas.
C’est une goutte d’eau dans la mer = It is a drop in the ocean.
Boire la goutte (fam.) = To have a drop; To take a nip.
Payer la goutte (fam.) = To stand something to drink.
Faites-moi grâce de vos observations, je vous en prie = Pray
spare me your remarks.
Veillez au grain = Keep a sharp look-out.
Avoir un grain de folie = To be a little cracked.
Ces plantes sont montées en graine = Those plants have run to
seed.
C’est de la graine de niais = That is something to deceive
fools with.
[137]
*Les grands sont les plus exposés aux coups du sort = High
winds blow on high hills.
Faire quelque chose en grand = To do something on a large scale.
Un buste de grandeur naturelle = A life-size bust.
*Bon gré, mal gré = Whether you wish or not; Nolens volens;
Willy-nilly.
Cette maison a été vendue de gré à gré = That house was sold by
private contract.
Il le fera de gré ou de force = He will have to do it whether
he likes it or not.
Il venait moitié de gré, moitié de force = He came somewhat
reluctantly.
De son plein gré = Of his own accord.
De plein gré = Voluntarily.
Nous vous en saurons bon gré = We shall be obliged to you for
it.
Je me sais bon gré de ne l’avoir pas fait = I am thankful I did
not do it.
*Attacher le grelot = To bell the cat.
[This phrase arises from the fable (La Fontaine, ii. 2)
of the rats who held a council as to how they might best defend
themselves from the cat. They resolved to hang a bell round his
neck, so that they might hear him coming and run away. But the
difficulty was to find a volunteer “to bell the cat.” In Scottish
history Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (1449-1514), was
called Bell-the-Cat. James III. used to make favourites of
architects and masons. The Scotch nobles held a council in the
Church of Lauder for the purpose of putting down these upstarts.
Lord Gray asked who would bell the cat. “That will I,” said
Douglas, and fearlessly he put the minions to death in the King’s
presence. Compare Scott, Marmion, v. 14. The Greek
equivalent, Ξυρεῖν λέοντα (= to shave the lion) occurs
in Plato, Republic, 341 C. The refrain of Eustace Deschamps’
Ballade 58 is: “Qui pendra la sonnette au chat?”]
Il va de la cave au grenier = 1. He rambles in his talk. 2. He
writes very unevenly (up and down).
[138]
Il m’a pris en grippe = He has taken a dislike to me.
Il en a vu de grises = He had an unpleasant time of it.
Il lui en a fait voir de grises = He plagued him terribly.
*Faute de grives on mange des merles = Half a loaf is better
than no bread. (See Aimer.)
Ils se sont dit de gros mots = They came to high words; They
insulted (slanged) one another.
La servante fait le gros de la besogne (or, la grosse
besogne) = The servant does the heavy work.
Il n’a qu’un gros bon sens = He has only plain common-sense.
Vous avez touché la grosse corde = You have come to the main
point.
Vendre en gros et en détail = To sell wholesale and retail.
Il m’a fait faire le pied de grue pendant deux heures = He made
me wait two hours for him; I was dancing attendance on him for
two hours.
[“Faites vous sus un pied toute la nuict la grue?”
Régnier, Sat. xi.]
*À la guerre comme à la guerre = One must take things as they
come; We must take the rough with the smooth.
Je l’ai fait de guerre lasse = Weary of resistance I did it for
the sake of peace and quiet.
*Qui terre a, guerre a = Much coin, much care; Much land, many
lawsuits.
[Voltaire’s variant was: “Qui plume a, guerre a.”]
Ça, c’est de bonne guerre = He has only used fair means to
defend himself (or, attack you); He has acted within his
rights, you cannot complain.
[139]
Mener la vie à grandes guides = (lit.) To drive life four in
hand; (fig.) To live a very fast life.
*Qui croit guiller Guillot, Guillot le guille =
“He that seeks others to beguile
Is oft overtaken in his wile.”
The biter bit.
[“For often he that will begyle
Is gyled with the same gyle,
And thus the gyler is begyled.”
Gower, Confessio Amantis, 135.
“For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar.”
Hamlet, iii. 4.]
Il fait (or, agit) toujours à sa guise = He always goes his
own way; He always acts according to his own sweet will.
H.
*L’habit ne fait pas le moine = The cowl does not make the
friar; The coat does not make the gentleman.
Prendre l’habit = To become a monk or a nun (of the latter, To
take the veil).
Ce monsieur est un de nos habitués = That gentleman is one of
our regular customers.
Cela est fait à coups de hache (or, serpe) = That is done
clumsily, roughly.
Je les hacherais menu comme chair à pâté = I would make
mincemeat of them.
J’ai couru à perte d’haleine = I ran until I was out of breath.
Ce sont des phrases à perte d’haleine = Those are very
long-winded sentences.
Il faut tenir les gens en haleine = One must keep the ball
rolling.
C’est un ouvrage de longue haleine = It’s a long job, a heavy
piece of work.
[140]
Le langage des Halles = Billingsgate.
[Also: des injures de carrefour.]
Cela rime comme hallebarde et miséricorde = That does not rhyme
at all.
[The usual explanation of this expression is, that, on the death
of the verger of St. Eustache, one of his friends—a small
shopkeeper of the neighbourhood—wished to write an epitaph for
his tomb. Being entirely ignorant of the rules of verse, he
composed the following:—
“Ci-gît mon ami Mardoche
Il a voulu être enterré à Saint Eustache
Il y porta trente-deux ans la hallebarde
Dieu lui fasse miséricorde.”
(Par son ami, J. Cl. Bombet, 1727.)
But in reality the proverb is much older. It dates from the time
of the old versifiers, one of whose rules was that two consonants
followed by an e mute were sufficient to form a feminine rhyme.
This led to abuses like the above, and this rule was superseded by
another, that the vowel preceding the two consonants must be alike
in both cases.]
Dis-moi qui tu hantes, je te dirai qui tu es = A man is known
by his company; Birds of a feather flock together.
Crier haro sur quelqu’un = To raise an outcry against any one.
[“À ces mots on cria haro sur le baudet.”
La Fontaine, Fables, vii. 1.
The origin of the word haro is disputed; Littré quotes Diez,
who connects it with O.H.G. hera = here. The old opinion was
that it was derived from Ha-Raoul, an appeal to Rollo, or
Hrolf, first Duke of Normandy, and a mighty lawgiver. However,
within living recollection the cry of Ha-Ro! à l’aide, mon
Prince! was used in the Channel Islands as a protection against
force and fraud, when no other defence was possible. See a
curious tale in “The Gossiping Guide to Jersey,” by J. Bertrand
Payne, London, 1863, p. 15.]
Il corrige le hasard = He cheats at play.
[“La fortune est redevenue mauvaise, il faut la corriger.”
Hamilton, Mémoires de Grammont, iii.]
[141]
*Trop de hâte gâte tout = The more haste, the less speed.
[Also: Plus on se hâte, moins on avance; Hâtez-vous lentement
(Lat. Festina lente); Assez tôt si bien; and the English
popular proverb, “Do nothing hastily save catching of fleas.”]
*Ouvrage hâté, ouvrage gâté = Haste makes waste.
Tomber de son haut = (fig.) To be thunder-struck.
Regarder de haut en bas = To treat contemptuously; To look down
upon with contempt.
Il y a du haut et du bas dans la vie = Life has its ups and
downs.
Haut le pied! = Be off!
*Mauvaise herbe croît toujours = Ill weeds grow apace.
Votre rival vous coupera l’herbe sous le pied = Your rival will
cut you out, will take the wind out of your sails, will cut the
ground from under your feet.
L’herbe sera bien courte s’il ne trouve à brouter = It will go
hard if he does not pick up a living; He would live on nothing.
C’est un avocat en herbe = He is studying for the bar; He is a
sucking barrister.
A l’heure qu’il est on ne le fait plus = Nowadays it is no
longer done.
A l’heure qu’il est il doit savoir la nouvelle = By this time
no doubt he has heard the news.
Faites-le sur l’heure = Do it this very minute.
Je partirai tout à l’heure = I will start presently.
Je l’ai vu tout à l’heure = I saw him just now, not long ago.
A la bonne heure! = Well done!; That’s right!; Capital!; That
is something like!
[142]
Le quart d’heure de Rabelais = The moment of payment (or,
suspense).
[On returning from Italy, Rabelais found himself in the south of
France with no more money to continue his journey to Paris. He
had dined well at an inn, and while waiting for his reckoning, he
packed up some dust in small packets which he labelled, “Poison
for the King,” “Poison for the Dauphin,” and so on. The innkeeper
noticing these packets and their terrible inscriptions, informed
the police, who took Rabelais to Paris free of charge to suffer
the penalty of treason. When he was brought before the King, the
monarch laughed heartily at the tale and let him go free.]
Passer un mauvais quart d’heure = To have a bad time of it.
Voilà bien des histoires pour si peu de chose! = What a fuss
about nothing.
Voilà bien une autre histoire! = That is quite another thing.
Histoire (or, Chansons) que tout cela! = That is all stuff
and nonsense.
Le plus beau de l’histoire c’était qu’il n’en savait rien = The
best of the joke was he knew nothing about it.
Histoire de rire = 1. For the fun of the thing. 2. It was only
a joke.
Hommage de l’auteur = With the author’s compliments.
*L’homme propose et Dieu dispose = Man proposes, God disposes.
[Also: “L’homme s’agite et Dieu le mène.”
Fénelon, Sermon pour la Fête de l’Épiphanie, 1685.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his
steps.”—Proverbs xvi. 9.
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we will.”—Hamlet, v. 2.
German: Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt.]
*Le style c’est l’homme = Style is the man himself; Like
author, like book.
[“Ces choses sont hors de l’homme, le style est l’homme
même.”—Buffon, Discours de Réception à l’Académie,
1753. There has been much discussion as to what Buffon really did
write, whether le style est[143] l’homme même or le style est
DE l’homme même. In most editions after that of Didot
(1843) the latter form will be found, whilst in editions from
1800-1843 the phrase is absent altogether. In the Recueil de
l’Académie it is printed le style est l’homme même, and of this
the proofs were probably corrected by Buffon himself. There is a
small pamphlet, Discours prononcé dans l’Académie française, par
M. de Buffon, le samedi 25 août 1753, which is probably earlier
still, in which it is also printed thus. However this may be, the
phrase “le style c’est l’homme,” which Buffon assuredly did not
write, has become a French proverb, and is in everyday use.]
Nous jouons pour l’honneur = We are playing for love.
*Un homme d’honneur n’a que sa parole = An honest man’s word is
as good as his bond.
Il fait honneur à ses affaires (comm.) = He meets all his
engagements.
Il ne prétend à votre fille qu’en tout bien tout honneur = He
has honourable intentions towards your daughter.
Nous lui avons fait honte = 1. We caused him to feel ashamed of
himself. 2. He was ashamed of us.
*Jamais honteux n’eut belle amie = Faint heart never won fair
lady.
*Il n’y a que les honteux qui perdent = Nothing ask, nothing
have.
Hors ligne = Standing out from the rest; Out of the common run;
Beyond comparison; Incomparable.
Ce peintre est hors concours = That artist is no longer a
competitor (having already received the highest award).
*Qui compte sans son hôte compte deux fois = He who reckons
without his host must reckon again.
Sentir l’huile = To smell of the lamp (of poetry, etc.).
[144]
Il tirerait de l’huile d’un mur = He would skin a flint, get
blood from a stone. (See Cheveux and Œuf.)
[Aquam a pumice postulare.—Plautus.]
De l’huile de bras = Elbow grease.
A huis clos = With closed doors; in camera.
I.
Cette petite fille est sage comme une image = That little girl
is very quiet, is as good as gold.
Faire l’homme d’importance = To play the consequential; To give
oneself airs; To be pompous.
Qu’importe? = No matter! It is of no consequence.
Que m’importe? = What is that to me?
Peu importe = It does not much matter.
Venez n’importe quand = Come at any time, no matter when,
whenever you please.
*A l’impossible nul n’est tenu = There is no doing
impossibilities; No living man all things can.
Les grévistes mirent cette boutique à l’index = The strikers
boycotted that shop.
[The Index Expurgatorius is a list of books compiled for the
Pope which Roman Catholics are forbidden to read.]
Ils se sont dit mille injures = They abused one another like
pickpockets.
Vous lui faites injure = You wrong him.
Je m’inscris en faux contre cette assertion = I emphatically
deny the truth of that assertion.
Il sortit à mon insu = He went out without my knowing it.
[145]
Vivre en bonne intelligence avec quelqu’un = To live on good
terms with some one.
*L’intention est réputée pour le fait = The will is taken for
the deed.
J’ai mis ce livre de côté à voire intention = I put that book
on one side especially for you (to read, to see).
J.
Au grand jamais = Never, no never.
Il court à toutes jambes = He is running as fast as his legs
will carry him.
[Compare: à toute bride, à toute vapeur, à toute vitesse.]
Il a pris ses jambes à son cou = He took to his heels.
Il a joué des jambes = He took to flight.
Il a des jambes de quinze ans = He still walks well.
Cela ne lui rend pas la jambe mieux faite! (ironic.) = And a
lot of good that will do him!
Cela vous ferait une belle jambe (ironic.) = A fine lot of good
that will do you.
Il a les jambes en manche de veste (fam.) = He is bow-legged.
Il le fera par dessous la jambe = He will do it with the
greatest ease (or, carelessly).
Il a des fourmis dans les jambes = He is fidgety, restless.
Jaune comme un coing = As yellow as a guinea.
Être gros Jean comme devant = To be no better off than one was
before, in spite of all one’s efforts.
[Rabelais, Pantagruel, iv. second prologue, and La
Fontaine, Fables, vii. 10.]
Il jette son argent par les fenêtres = He plays ducks and
drakes with his money.
[146]
C’est jeter de l’huile sur le feu = It is adding fuel to the
fire (flames).
*Jeu qui trop dure ne vaut rien (Charles d’Orléans) = Too much
of a good thing is bad.
C’est vieux jeu = That is quite old-fashioned.
Ne me mettez pas en jeu = Do not mix me up in it.
Cela passe le jeu = That is beyond a joke.
*Jeu de mains, jeu de vilains = 1. Horse-play is not
gentlemanly. 2. Rough play often ends in tears.
Il fait bonne mine à mauvais jeu = He puts a good face on the
matter; He makes the best of a bad job.
*A beau jeu beau retour = One good turn deserves another.
Nous sommes à deux de jeu = We are even; We are a match for
each other; Two can play at that game.
Je vous donne beau jeu = (lit.) I give you good cards; (fig.) I
give you a good opportunity; I play into your hands.
Jouer gros jeu = (lit.) To play for high stakes; (fig.) To risk
very much in an attempt.
Cela n’est pas du jeu = 1. That is not fair, not cricket; You
are not playing the game. 2. That was not agreed upon.
*Qui jeune n’apprend, rien ne saura = An old dog will learn no
tricks. (See Jeunesse.)
*Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait = If only the young
had experience and the old strength; If things were to be done
twice, all would be wise.
Ce que poulain prend en jeunesse, il le continue en vieillesse =
“’Tis education forms the common mind.
Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.”
[Pope, Moral Essays, i. 149.]
Youth and white paper take any impression.
[147]
[Also: Vieil arbre mal aisé à redresser. Compare the English,
“Old dogs are hard to train.” (See Jeune.)
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it.”—Proverbs xxii. 6.]
Il faut que jeunesse se passe = Boys will be boys.
Un rabat-joie = A mar-joy; A wet blanket.
Il joua de son reste = He played his last card; He was on his
last legs.
[Carefully distinguish this from Jouir de son reste = To make
the most of one’s remaining time.]
Il joue au plus sûr = He plays a safe game.
Jouer de malheur = To have a run of ill-luck.
Jouer serré = To act cautiously; To leave nothing to chance.
Ces gens vivent au jour le jour = Those men live from day to
day, from hand to mouth.
*À chaque jour suffit sa peine = Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof.
Je suis à jour = I am up to date; I am not behind in my work.
*Tôt ou tard la vérité se fait jour = Sooner or later the truth
will come out.
C’est le jour et la nuit = They are as different as chalk and
cheese.
Il n’est si long jour qui ne vienne à vêpres =
“Be the day weary, be the day long,
At length it ringeth to evensong.”
[From a poem by Stephen Hawes, a poet of the reign of Henry VII.
Compare:
“Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.”
Macbeth, i. 3.
And:
Come day, go day,
God brings Sunday.]
[148]
A bon jour, bonne œuvre = The better the day, the better the
deed.
*Ce n’est pas tous les jours fête = 1. Christmas comes but once
a year. 2. One cannot always have “a high old time,” but must
work as well. 3. Life is not all beer and skittles.
D’aujourd’hui en huit = This day week.
Il y a aujourd’hui huit jours = This day last week.
En plein jour = In broad daylight.
Il y a quinze ans jour pour jour = It was fifteen years ago to
the very day.
Prendre jour = To agree upon a day for an appointment.
*De fou juge briève (brève) sentence = A fool’s bolt is soon
shot.
Juger sur l’étiquette du sac = To judge by appearances, by the
exterior.
Au juger = At a guess.
Le vert jure avec le jaune = Green does not match with yellow;
Green clashes with yellow.
Jurer comme un templier (charretier, païen) = To swear like a
trooper.
Au plus juste prix = At the lowest price.
Comme de juste = Rightly enough.
[Littré condemns this expression as ungrammatical, giving the
correct form as: comme il est juste. It is, however, almost
universally used.]
Passer à pleines voiles à travers les mailles de la justice =
To drive a coach-and-four through an Act of Parliament.
[Also: Il est facile de donner une entorse à la loi.]
La justice ne connaît personne = Justice is no respecter of
persons.
[149]
L.
Je jette là mon soufflet avec dépit = I fling aside my bellows
in disgust.
[É. Souvestre, Le Philosophe sous les toits.]
Nous sommes allés chercher de la laine et nous sommes revenus
tondus = We went out to shear and returned shorn; The biter bit.
Cela laisse à désirer = There is room for improvement; It is
not quite the thing.
Je ne laisse pas d’être inquiet = In spite of all that, I am
anxious.
[Here we have the old meaning of laisser (= laxare) to leave off.
Hence, I do not leave off being anxious.]
C’est à prendre ou à laisser = You must take it or leave it;
It’s a case of Hobson’s choice.
Il se laissa faire = He offered no resistance.
*“Je vis de bonne soupe et non de beau langage” = “Fair words
butter no parsnips.”
[The French is found in Molière, Les Femmes Savantes,
ii. 7, and the English equivalent in Wycherley, Plain
Dealer, v. 3.
Also: C’est un bel instrument que la langue.]
Ils tiraient la langue = (lit.) They put their tongues out;
(fig.) They showed signs of distress.
Il a la langue trop longue = He cannot hold his tongue.
Il a la langue bien pendue = He has the gift of the gab.
Jeter sa langue aux chiens = To give up guessing (conundrums,
etc.). (See Chat.)
La langue lui a fourché = He made a slip of the tongue.
Il veut nous faire prendre des vessies pour des lanternes = He
would have us believe that the moon is made of green cheese.
[150]
Prendre le large = To run for the offing (nav.); To run away.
Au large = In the open sea. (See Plein.)
Ils s’entendent comme larrons en foire = They are as thick as
thieves.
*L’occasion fait le larron = Opportunity makes the thief; Keep
yourself from opportunities and God will keep you from sins.
[“How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes ill deeds done.”
Shakespeare, King John, iv. 2.]
Latin de cuisine = Dog Latin.
J’y perds mon latin = I cannot make it out; I am nonplussed; I
can make neither head nor tail of it.
Être au bout de son latin (or, rouleau) = To be at one’s
wits’ end; Not to know what to do, or say, next.
Je lui ai dit la chose en toutes lettres = I told him the
matter plainly.
Ne prenez pas ce que je dis au pied de la lettre = Do not take
what I say literally.
J’en lèverais la main = I would swear to it; I would take my
oath to it.
[The oath in courts of justice is taken in many countries with the
right hand raised, palm outwards. In England we kiss a Bible.]
Le président leva la séance = The chairman dissolved the
meeting; The Speaker left the chair.
*À qui se lève matin Dieu prête la main = It is the early bird
that catches the worm.
J’avais le mot sur le bord des lèvres (or, au bout de la
langue) = I had the word at the tip of my tongue.
Il n’a pas un rouge liard = He has not a brass farthing. (See
Radis.)
[151]
C’est là que gît le lièvre = That is the main point; There’s
the rub.
*Il ne faut pas courir deux lièvres à la fois = You must not
have too many irons in the fire.
Il a une mémoire de lièvre = He has a memory like a sieve.
[Also: Il est comme les lièvres, il perd la mémoire en courant.]
Il veut prendre les lièvres au son du tambour = He makes a
great noise about what should be kept secret; He divulged a plan
which to succeed had to be kept secret.
C’est un homme hors ligne = He is a first-rate man. (See
Hors.)
Il est en première ligne = He is in the front rank.
Il a une tête de linotte = He is a hare-brained fellow.
Traduire à livre ouvert = To translate at sight.
Revenir de loin = 1. To come back from a distant place. 2. To
recover from a very severe illness.
De loin en loin = At long intervals.
*Tout s’use à la longue = Everything wears out in time.
[Tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse.]
Il se promenait de long en large = He was walking up and down,
to and fro.
Il en sait trop long = He knows too much.
Il m’a raconté la chose tout au long = He told me every detail
of the affair.
Il était étendu tout de son long = He was lying at full length.
Longer la côte = To hug the shore.
Ce procès traîne en longueur = That lawsuit is dragging on
slowly.
[152]
*Qui se loue s’emboue = Self-praise is no recommendation.
Il marche à pas de loup = He walks stealthily.
Il est connu comme le loup blanc = He is known to every one.
*Quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue (or, il sort du
bois) = Speak of angels and you hear their wings; Talk of the
devil, he is sure to appear.
*Le loup mourra dans sa peau = A bad thing never dies; A bad
man will die a bad man.
[Lupus pilum mutat non mentem. Erasmus (Adagia 989) gives the
Greek origin of this saying, ὁ λύκος τὴν τρίχα οὐ τὴν
γνώμην ἀλλάττει, but he quotes no author.]
Tenir le loup par la queue = To have hold of the sow by the
wrong ear.
On fait toujours le loup plus gros qu’il n’est = A tale never
loses in the telling.
*Il faut hurler avec les loups = When we are at Rome we must
do as Rome does; You must do as others do; He who kennels with
wolves must howl.
[“Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. xv. 33). Paul
quoted this iambic line form Menander’s “Thais,” “φθείρουσιν ἤθη
χρῆσθ᾽ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.”
The proverb about Rome is said to have originated with St.
Ambrose, who, when he was asked by St. Augustine whether he should
fast on Saturday or not when he was at Rome, although he was not
accustomed to do so when at home, replied: “When I am at home I
do not fast on Saturday; but when I am at Rome I do, and I think
you should follow the custom of every city you visit, if you would
avoid scandal.” From this reply originated the hexameter: Cum Romæ
fueris Romano vive more = When you shall be at Rome, live after
the Roman fashion.]
Tenir le loup par les oreilles = To be in a critical situation;
To have caught a Tartar.
[“Auribus lupum teneo.”—Terence, Phormio, iii. 2, 21.]
[153]
Il fait un froid de loup = It is terribly cold.
*Les loups ne se mangent pas entre eux = Dog does not eat dog;
There is honour among thieves. (See Corsaire.)
Renfermer le loup dans la bergerie = To set the fox to keep the
geese.
Ils se sont mis dans la gueule du loup = They rushed into the
lion’s mouth.
C’est un vieux loup de mer = He is an old sea dog.
Faire la Saint-Lundi
Fêter Saint Lundi
Faire le Lundi |
} |
= To do no work on Monday. |
Faire un trou à la lune = “To shoot the moon”; To flee from
one’s creditors. (See Cloche.)
Vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents = To attempt
impossibilities.
[“Prendre la lune aux dents serait moins difficile.”
La Fontaine, Le Roi Candaule.]
M.
Je ne lui ai pas mâché la chose = I did not mince matters with
him.
Je lui ai donné sa besogne toute mâchée = I gave him his work
all ready cut out; I made his work as easy as possible for him.
Elle fait la Madame = She gives herself airs (of little girls).
Mi-mai, queue d’hiver = The middle of May has usually three
cold days (called Les saints de glace, May 11, 12, and 13).
Faire maigre = To abstain from meat.
Faire maigre chère = To have poor fare.
Maigre comme un clou = As thin as a lath.
[154]
Il n’a ni sou ni maille = He has not got a rap, a brass
farthing.
Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu’un = To have a bone to pick
(a crow to pluck) with some one.
[Maille (= mite) was the smallest coin in France, and therefore
could not be divided. Hence the saying means to have a quarrel
with some one. Notice the old meaning of partir in this idiom =
to divide (Lat. partiri).]
Maille à maille se fait l’haubergeon = Many a little makes a
mickle. (See Goutte and Petit.)
Donnez-moi une poignée de main = Shake hands with me.
Donnez-moi un coup de main = Give me a helping hand.
Vous n’y allez pas de main morte = You hit with a vengeance;
You don’t do things by halves.
Avoir un poil dans la main = To be very lazy (so that hair
grows on the palm of the hand).
Avoir la main heureuse = To be lucky at cards (or, at other
things).
Avoir la main rompue à quelque chose = To be well versed at
something.
Je le connais de longue main = I have known him for a long time.
Il disparut en un tour de main = He disappeared in an instant,
in a twinkling.
Il a une chambre grande comme la main = He has a room not big
enough to swing a cat in.
En venir aux mains = To come to blows.
Bas les mains = Hands off.
Les deux armées en sont aux mains = The two armies are in close
combat, have come to close quarters.
Je me perds la main = I am getting rusty.
[155]
Je tirais au pistolet pour me faire la main = I practised
pistol-shooting to get my hand in.
Il y a mis la dernière main = He put the finishing touch to it.
Il a fait cela haut la main = He did it with the greatest ease.
Mettre la main à la pâte = To put one’s shoulder to the wheel;
To set to (a special piece of) work oneself.
Les voleurs firent main basse sur tous mes effets = The thieves
laid hands on all my things.
Pour cela je vous baise les mains = As for that I will not do
it; “No, thank you!”
J’en mettrais la main au feu = I would swear to it; I would
stake my life on it; I would take my dying oath about it.
[A reference to trial by ordeal.]
Je n’en peux mais! = I cannot help it!
[Mais is here an adverb, and shows its derivation from the Latin
magis. The phrase literally means: “I can do no more.”]
Faire maison neuve (or, nette) = To change all one’s servants.
Il fait des demandes par dessus les maisons = He makes most
unreasonable demands.
*Tel maître, tel valet = Like master, like man.
[Or: Tel couteau, tel fourreau.
German: Wie der Herr, so der Knecht.]
C’est une maîtresse femme = She is a superior woman.
[One who manages her business or subordinates capably, makes her
servants obey her and do their work well, and is respected by
them.]
*À qui mal veut, mal arrive = Harm watch, harm catch; Curses,
like chickens, come home to roost.
[This proverb is said to be of Turkish origin. The Spanish
equivalent is: “Who sows thorns, let him not walk barefoot.” Comp.
Psalms cix. 17.]
[156]
J’ai mal au cœur = I feel sick.
Vous prenez tout en mal = You put a wrong construction on
everything.
Elle s’est trouvée mal = She fainted.
Elle est au plus mal = She is past recovery.
Sa sœur aînée n’est pas mal = Her elder sister is not
bad-looking.
*Aux grands maux les grands remèdes = Desperate diseases
require desperate remedies.
*À quelque chose malheur est bon = It is an ill wind that blows
no one any good.
[“À quelque chose sert le malheur.”
Montaigne, Essais, ii. 17.]
Pour surcroît (or, comble) de malheur il tomba malade = To
crown his misfortunes he fell ill.
*Un malheur ne vient jamais seul = Misfortunes never come
singly; It never rains but it pours.
[Ital. Benedetto è quel male, che vien solo = Blessed is that
misfortune which comes alone.]
Il n’est qu’heur et malheur = That’s the way of the world.
C’est un manant = He is a coarse, ill-educated boor.
[From manens = one remaining fixed to the soil, a villein, serf.]
Il branle dans le manche (or, au manche) = He is no longer
firmly established in his post; He is irresolute.
*Jeter le manche après la cognée = To throw the rope after the
bucket; To give up in despair.
Je ne me ferai pas tirer par la manche = I shall not require
much pressing.
C’est une autre paire de manches = That is quite another thing;
That is a horse of another colour, another pair of shoes.
[157]
J’ai gagné la première manche = I won the first game (out of
two or more).
Je l’ai dans ma manche = I have him at my disposal.
Il mange comme quatre = He eats like an ogre.
Il a mangé son pain blanc le premier = He had the happiest part
of his life first. (See Pain.)
Manger son blé en herbe = To anticipate one’s revenue.
Il a mangé de la vache enragée = He has suffered many
privations.
Il est très inquiet, il en perd le boire et le manger = He is
very anxious, he has lost his appetite.
Je l’ai rossé de la belle manière (fam.) = I gave him a sound
thrashing.
Vous me manquez = I miss you.
Je vous manque = You miss me.
Il a manqué d’être pris = He was nearly caught.
C’est un avocat manqué = He is a would-be barrister; He is a
failure as a barrister.
C’est un garçon manqué = She is a tomboy.
Ce serait manquer d’usage = That would be a breach of good
manners.
Il ne manquait plus que cela! = That crowns all! That is the
last straw!
C’est un marchand de soupe = He is a regular Squeers.
[This is said of a private schoolmaster who, far from regarding
his profession as an honourable one, follows it solely with a view
to profit, by having few and inferior assistants and by feeding
his pupils cheaply and badly (thus making a profit on the soup).
He looks upon teaching as the least important part of his work. Of
course, this race of men is now entirely extinct.]
Par dessus le marché = Into the bargain; Over and above.
[158]
Il m’a mis le marché à la main = He told me I could take it or
leave it; He made me decide one way or the other.
Est-ce marché fait? = Is it a bargain?
Vous en êtes quitte à bon marché = You came off cheaply.
Vous aurez bon marché de lui = You will easily get the better
of him.
Je fais bon marché de cela = I hold that very cheap.
On n’a jamais bon marché d’une mauvaise marchandise = A bad
thing is dear at any price; The best is the cheapest in the end.
*Ce qui vient de flot s’en retourne de marée = Fortune is as
quick in going as in coming. (See Flûte.)
Il se plaint que la mariée est trop belle = He complains that
he has got too good a bargain.
Faire bouillir la marmite = To keep the pot boiling.
Chacun a sa marotte = Every one has his hobby.
[Marotte is a kind of sceptre or rattle with a head on the end,
furnished with bells, which jesters carry.]
*Mars venteux et Avril pluvieux
Font le Mai gai et gracieux =
March winds and April showers
Make way for May flowers.
*Mieux vaut être marteau qu’enclume = Better be striker than
struck.
Être entre l’enclume et le marteau = To be in a dilemma; To be
between the devil and the deep sea.
Graisser le marteau = To tip the porter.
[There is the same idea in “Palm oil.”]
[159]
Il s’est mis martel en tête = He made himself very uneasy.
Il est d’une humeur massacrante = He is as cross as two sticks.
Il est bien enfoncé dans la matière = He is very coarse, very
prosaic.
La table des matières = The table of contents (of a book).
Il partira un de ces quatre matins = He will start one of these
fine days.
Traiter quelqu’un de Turc à Maure = To treat a person brutally.
[As the Turks treated the Moors when they conquered the north of
Africa. See Molière, Précieuses Ridicules, 10.]
*À laver la tête d’un Maure (or, d’un âne, or, d’un nègre)
on y perd sa lessive = To endeavour to teach a fool is a waste
of time.
Il a éventé (or, vendu) la mèche = He has let the cat out
of the bag; He has blown the gaff.
Il n’y a pas mèche (pop.) = “It’s no go”; There is no doing it.
C’est le revers de la médaille = That is the dark side of the
picture.
S’il pleut le jour de St. Médard,
Il pleut quarante jours plus tard.
S’il pleut le jour de St. Gervais,
Il pleut quarante jours après =
“St Swithin’s day, gif ye do rain
For forty days will it remain.”
[Le jour de St. Médard = June 8.
Le jour de St. Gervais = June 19.
St. Swithin’s Day = July 15.]
Voilà trois médecins qui ne vous trompent pas:
Gaîté, doux exercice et modeste repas =
The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merriman.
[160]
*La méfiance est mère de la sûreté = Safe bind, safe find.
[La Fontaine, Fables, iii. 18.]
Il buvait à même la bouteille = He was drinking out of the
bottle itself.
[This is an inversion for à la bouteille même. Boire à même
is not usually used of cups or glasses, but of bottles, jugs,
streams, etc. For it implies that the containing vessel itself
is being used to drink out of, and not any smaller vessel. Thus
boire à même le verre would suggest that a spoon or smaller
receptacle was not used.]
Il est à même de vous comprendre = He is able to understand you.
Cela revient au même = That comes to the same thing.
C’est cela même = That is the very thing.
Faites de même = Do the same.
Ils font bon ménage = They live happily together.
Elle fait le ménage = She is doing her housework.
*Qui veut voyager loin ménage sa monture = Who wishes to go far
spares his horse; He who wishes to live long avoids excess.
[Racine, Plaideurs, i. 1.]
*A beau mentir gui vient de loin = A traveller may lie with
impunity; Travellers tell fine tales.
Quasi et presque empêchent les gens de mentir = Almost and very
nigh save many a lie.
Québec, c’est Saint-Malo à s’y méprendre (Max O’Rell) = You
could easily mistake Quebec for St. Malo.
*Ce n’est pas la mer à boire = It is not an impossibility; It
is not so very difficult after all.
*Porter de l’eau à la mer = To carry coals to Newcastle.
[161]
Remplir son mérite = To act up to one’s reputation.
*On ne prend pas les vieux merles à la pipée = Old birds are
not to be caught with chaff.
Il se porte à merveille = He is in splendid health.
*Près du moûtier, à messe le dernier = The nearer the church,
the farther from God.
Il nous a servi un plat de son métier (or, de sa façon) = He
played us one of his tricks.
*“À chacun son métier et les vaches seront bien gardées”
(Florian, Fables, i. 12) = Let the cobbler stick to
his last.
[“Ne sutor ultra crepidam” (judicet).]
Mettez cent francs = Make it £4.
Il se mettrait en quatre pour ses amis = He would do anything
for his friends.
Il se met bien = He dresses well.
On veut nous mettre dedans (fam.) = They want to entrap us, to
take us in.
Chercher midi à quatorze heures = To make (or, seek)
difficulties where there are none; To look for grapes on thorns.
[This expression has its origin in the old custom, still in
use in some parts of Italy, of reckoning the hours of the day
consecutively from 1 to 24, beginning at sunset. Hence, noon
may vary from the 16th to the 20th hour, but is never the 14th.
Voltaire’s epigram for a sun-dial is very well known, but may bear
repetition:—
“Vous qui vivez dans ces demeures,
Êtes-vous bien? tenez-vous y,
Et n’allez pas chercher midi
À quatorze heures.”]
Chacun connaît midi à sa porte = Each one knows his own
business best.
J’y ai mis du mien, mettez-y du vôtre = I have given way a bit,
meet me half-way; I have done my share at it, now it’s your turn.
[162]
*Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien = Leave well alone.
Ils criaient à qui mieux mieux = Each was trying to shout
louder than the other; Each tried to drown the others’ voices.
Je ne demande pas mieux = Nothing would give me greater
pleasure.
Elle est mieux que sa sœur = She is prettier than her sister.
Faute de mieux = For want of something better.
Tant mieux = So much the better.
Il est au mieux avec son médecin = He is on the best terms with
his doctor.
On ne peut mieux = As well as possible; It could not be better.
Vous arrivez on ne peut mieux = You could not have come at a
more opportune moment.
Le juste milieu = The golden mean.
Au beau milieu = In the very midst.
Vertu gît au milieu = Do not rush into extremes.
[In medio tutissimus ibis = Allez par le milieu et vous ne
tomberez pas. Compare the English: When slovenly girls get tidy,
they polish the bottoms of saucepans.]
Faire bonne mine à mauvais jeu = To put a good face on the
matter; To make the best of a bad job.
If fait mine de ne pas comprendre = He pretends not to
understand.
Il nous a fait mauvaise (or, grise) mine = He looked black
(sour) at us; He did not receive us well.
Cet homme a très mauvaise mine = 1. That man looks a regular
ruffian. 2. That man looks very ill.
[163]
Il ne paye pas de mine = His appearance is against him.
Ne jugez pas sur la mine = Do not judge by appearances.
[“Garde-toi, tant que tu vivras,
De juger des gens sur la mine.”
La Fontaine, Fables, vi. 5.]
Elle fait la mine = She is sulking.
Elle est ma tante à la mode de Bretagne = She is my father’s
(or, mother’s) first cousin; She is my first cousin once
removed.
Elle est ma nièce à la mode de Bretagne = She is the daughter
of my first cousin.
[These phrases are used of any very distant relationship.]
C’est là son moindre défaut = That is not a great weakness of
hers (or, his); That is the last thing you can reproach her
(or, him) with.
[La Fontaine, Fables, i. 1.]
Deux moineaux sur même épi ne sont pas longtemps amis = Two of
a trade seldom agree.
[“Καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει και τέκτονι τέκτων
Καὶ πτωχὸς πτωχῷ φθονέει καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀοιδῶ.”
Hesiod, Opera et dies, 25.]
Il tire sa poudre aux moineaux = He wastes his trouble for
nothing.
Tous les 36 du mois = Once in a blue moon.
C’est vieux comme le monde = It is as old as the hills.
Vous dites des choses de l’autre monde = You say most
out-of-the-way things.
Il y a un monde fou = There is a terrible crowd. (See Fou.)
[164]
Vous moquez-vous du monde de parler ainsi? = Are you making fun
of people (are you serious) in speaking thus? Do you take people
for a pack of fools?
Si vous obtenez cinq francs, c’est le bout du monde = If you
get five francs, it is the utmost; You will get five francs at
the very outside.
Si elle a trente ans c’est tout le bout du monde = She may be
thirty at the very outside.
On ne peut contenter tout le monde et son père = One cannot
satisfy everybody, all the world and his wife.
[“Parbleu, dit le meunier, est bien fou du cerveau
Qui prétend contenter tout le monde et son père.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iii. 1.]
Il lui a rendu la monnaie de sa pièce = He paid him back in his
own coin.
Par monts et par vaux = Up hill and down dale.
À grande montée grande descente = The higher the rise, the
greater the fall; He who climbs too high is near a fall.
[“Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself.”
Shakespeare, Macbeth, i. 7.
Also: La Roche Tarpéienne est près du Capitole.]
Montrer le soleil avec un flambeau = To paint the lily; To hold
a farthing rushlight to the sun.
Se mordre les doigts = To repent what one has done.
Se mordre la langue = To repent what one has said.
Il est mort de sa belle mort = He died a natural death.
Il est à l’article de la mort = He is at the point of death, at
death’s door.
[165]
Quand on compte sur les souliers d’un mort on risque de marcher
pieds nus = It’s an ill thing to wait for dead men’s shoes; He
pulls with a long rope that waits for another’s death.
[Also: Qui s’attend à l’écuelle d’autrui risque fort de mal
dîner.]
Avoir la mort dans l’âme = To be grieved to death; To be
overwhelmed with grief.
*Qui se sent morveux se mouche (pop.) = If the cap fits, wear
it. (See Galeux.)
Ils en sont venus aux gros mots = They came to high words.
*Qui ne dit mot consent = Silence gives consent.
Il a toujours le mot pour rire = He is ever ready with a joke;
He is full of fun.
Il a 40,000 francs de rente au bas mot = He has £1600 a year at
the very least.
*À bon entendeur demi-mot suffit (or, salut) = A word to the
wise is enough; Verbum sap.
Il entend à demi-mot = He can take a hint.
Ils se sont donné le mot = They have passed the word round;
They have agreed before-hand what to say.
Tranchons le mot = In plain English; Not to mince matters; To
put it plainly.
C’est mon dernier mot = That is the last concession I can make;
I will not take less.
Il sait le fin mot de tout cela = He understands the upshot of
all this.
Ne soufflez pas mot! = Do not breathe a word!
En deux mots = To cut a long story short.
Des mots longs d’une toise = Words as long as your arm.
[Racine, Plaideurs, i. 1.]
[166]
Je ne mâche pas mes mots = I don’t mince matters; I call a
spade a spade.
Les grosses mouches passent à travers la toile de la justice,
mais les petites y sont prises = One man may steal a horse,
while another dare not look over the hedge; Justice will whip a
beggar, but bow to a lord; One does the scath, another has the
harm; The crow gets pardoned, and the dove has the blame.
[“Où la guêpe a passé, le moucheron demeure.”
La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 16.
“Quidquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.”
Hor., Ep., i. 2.
Italian: Un fa il peccato, l’altro la penitenza.]
*Vous faites d’une mouche un éléphant = You make a mountain out
of a molehill.
[“Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.”
Horace, Ars Poetica.]
Quelle mouche vous pique? = What irritates you? What whim have
you got into your head?
Il a pris la mouche = He is in a huff; He got offended.
*On prend plus de mouches avec du miel qu’avec du vinaigre =
More is done by kindness than by harshness.
C’est une fine mouche = He is a sly dog, a deep one.
C’est la mouche du coche = He is a regular busybody; The worst
wheel makes the most noise. (See Coche and Bruit.)
Faire mouche = To hit the bull’s eye.
Il viendra moudre à notre moulin = He will be in want of us
some day.
C’est un vrai moulin à paroles = She is a regular chatterbox;
He is a regular windbag.
Il m’a fait monter la moutarde au nez = He irritated me; He
made me lose my temper.
[167]
C’est de la moutarde après dîner = It comes too late to be of
any use; It is a day after the fair.
[“Depugnato proelio venire.”—Plautus, Menaechmi, v. 6,
30.
“Κατόπιν τῆς ἑορτῆς ἥκεις” = You have come after the
feast.—Plato, Gorgias.]
Il se croit le premier moutardier du pape = He thinks no small
beer of himself.
*Revenons à nos moutons = But to return to our subject.
[From an old farce of the fifteenth century, Maistre Pierre
Pathelin, verse 1191, attributed without foundation to Pierre
Blanchet. M. F. Génin in his edition (1854) gives 1460 as the
date, and Antoine de la Sale as the author. It was adapted in 1706
by Brueys and Palaprat, under the title of L’Avocat Patelin. See
also Régnier, Sat., ii.]
Il n’y a pas moyen = It cannot be done.
Il fait valoir ses moyens = 1. He makes the best of his
talents. 2. He boasts of his talents.
Cet enfant a peu de moyens = That child is not clever.
Je l’ai mis au pied du mur = I drove him into a corner; I made
him decide one way or the other.
*Muraille blanche, papier de fou = Fools write their names on
walls.
[Late Latin: Stultorum calami, carbones mœnia chartae.]
Il est réglé comme un papier de musique = He is as regular as
clockwork.
N.
Je suis tout en nage = I am in a thorough perspiration; I have
not a dry thread on me.
[168]
Faire la navette = To go to and fro between two places several
times.
Avoir quelque chose pour des nèfles (fam.) = To buy something
for a mere song.
Vous me donnez sur les nerfs = You get on my nerves; You rile
me (fam.).
Mettez cela au net = Make a fair copy of that.
Il a les mains nettes (fig.) = He is honest; His hands are
clean.
Refuser net = To refuse point-blank.
Il a un pied de nez (fam.) = He pulls a long face, looks
foolish.
[Also: Il fait un nez.]
Il a fait un pied de nez (fam.) = He put his fingers to his
nose; “He cut a snook.”
Ce coup l’a fait saigner du nez = That blow made his nose bleed.
Il a saigné du nez = (lit.) His nose bled; (fig.) His heart
failed him.
A vue de nez = By rule of thumb.
Il veut toujours fourrer son nez partout (fam.) = He wants to
have his finger in every pie. (See Fourrer.)
On voulait lui tirer les vers du nez = They wished to pump him.
Vous vous y casserez le nez = 1. You will fall on your face. 2.
You will knock up against something. 3. You will fail in that.
Porter le nez au vent = To stare about aimlessly.
Il me regarda sous le nez = He stared me in the face.
Il me l’a jeté au nez = He cast it in my teeth.
Il a le nez fin = 1. He has a good nose. 2. He is far-sighted,
sagacious.
[169]
Qui coupe son nez dégarnit son visage = It is an ill bird that
fouls its own nest; He who cuts off his nose spites his own face.
[Also: S’arracher le nez pour faire dépit à son visage.]
Il me ferma la porte au nez = He shut the door in my face.
Il lui en pend autant au nez = He may expect as much (something
unpleasant); He will fare no better.
On n’a plus trouvé que le nid = They found the birds flown.
Elle fait la sainte Nitouche = She plays the innocent; She
looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth; She looks very
demure.
[Sainte Nitouche is derived from sainte n’y touche, shortened
from une sainte qui n’y touche pas. See Toucher.]
Je n’ai jamais été à pareille noce (or, fête) = I never had
such a time of it.
Il a fait la noce toute la semaine = He has had a high old time
of it all the week; He has been on the spree all the week.
[Literally, to enjoy oneself as if one were a guest at a
wedding, where there is plenty of merriment, food, and drink.]
Je ne suis pas à la noce = I am not enjoying myself at all.
*Tant crie l’on Noël qu’il vient (Villon) = Long looked for
comes at last; That is coming—like Christmas.
Quand Noël est vert, les Pâques seront blanches = When the
winter is mild, the spring will be wintry.
Voir tout en noir = To look on the black side of things; To
have the blues.
[Opposite to: voir tout en rose, or, voir tout couleur de
rose.]
[170]
Broyer du noir = To have the blues; To feel very sad.
Nom d’un petit bonhomme! (fam.) = By Jingo!
Voilà un nom à coucher dehors (avec un billet de logement
dans la poche) = That’s a name too ugly for words; That’s an
outlandish name if you like.
Tout fait nombre = Every little helps.
C’est répondre en Normand = That is an evasive answer.
Elle dit qu’elle a vingt ans.—Et les mois de nourrice! (fam.)
= She says she is twenty.—And the rest!
Goûtez-moi ce vin; vous m’en direz des nouvelles (fam.) = You
just taste this wine, you don’t get wine like that every day;
What do you think of that for wine, my boy?
Tomber des nues = To be astounded.
*Ce qui nuit à l’un sert à l’autre = What is one man’s meat is
another man’s poison.
*La nuit porte conseil = Time will show a plan; Sleep upon it;
Seek advice of your pillow.
O.
Se fourrer le doigt dans l’œil (pop.) = To deceive oneself
blindly.
[Sometimes jusqu’au coude is added.]
Il a les yeux au beurre noir (pop.) = He has a couple of black
eyes; He has his eyes in mourning.
[Also: Il à les yeux pochés.]
Je ne vois pas cela d’un bon œil = I do not look favourably
upon that.
[171]
Cela saute aux yeux = That is evident, obvious; It is as clear
as noonday.
Je l’ai regardé entre les deux yeux = I looked him straight in
the face; I stared at him.
Entrer à l’œil dans un théâtre (fam.) = To get into a
theatre on the nod (i.e. gratis).
Avoir le compas dans l’œil = To have a good eye for
distances.
Elle a des yeux à la perdition de son âme = Her eyes are so
lovely that they will be her ruin.
Vous ne voyez point votre chapeau? Mais il vous crève les yeux!
= You do not see your hat? Why, it stares you in the face! (it’s
just under your nose).
La lumière me tire les yeux = The light hurts my eyes.
Il ne le fera pas pour vos beaux yeux = He will not do it for
you for nothing.
Nous convînmes de cela entre quatre yeux = We agreed to that
between ourselves.
Je m’en bats l’œil (pop.) = I don’t care a straw for it.
Il a les yeux battus = He has a tired look about his eyes.
Il a les yeux cernés = He has dark circles round his eyes.
Des yeux à fleur de tête = Goggle eyes. (See Fleur.)
Ouvrez l’œil, et le bon! (fam.) = Look out!
Cela lui a tapé dans l’œil (pop.) = That took his fancy; He
was much struck by that.
*Donner un œuf pour avoir un bœuf = To give a sprat to
catch a herring (or, mackerel).
[Also: Supporter peu pour avoir tout.]
*Faire d’un œuf un bœuf = To make a mountain out of a
molehill.
Il tondrait sur un œuf = He would skin a flint. (See Huile
and Cheveux.)
[172]
*La fin couronne l’œuvre = The end crowns all; All’s well
that ends well.
Mettez la main à l’œuvre = Put your shoulder to the wheel.
*À l’œuvre on connaît l’artisan = A carpenter is known by
his chips; The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
[La Fontaine, Fables, i. 21, Les frelons et la mouche
à miel.]
*Oignez vilain, il vous poindra:
Poignez vilain, il vous oindra.
[An old saying used by the French nobles during the middle
ages, and found in a collection of proverbs of the thirteenth
century.—Rab., i, 21. The Duc de Bourbon, in speaking before
the États-Généraux in 1484, said: “Je connais le caractère des
vilains. S’ils ne sont opprimés, il faut qu’ils oppriment.”
Comp. “Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.”
—Aaron Hill, Verses written on a window in Scotland.]
Il a battu les buissons, un autre a pris l’oiseau = He did the
work and another had the profit.
[Donatus in his “Life of Virgil” quotes the famous line: “Sic vos
non vobis nidificatis aves.” Hesiod says of drones: “ἀλλότριον
κάματον σφετέρην ἑς γαστερ᾽ ἀμῶνται = Into their own bellies they
scrape together the labour of others.” The Talmud says: “One says
grace and another eats”; the New Testament: “One soweth, another
reapeth.” Henry V. is reported to have said: “Shall I beat the
bush and another take the bird?” when it was proposed to him to
give up the Duke of Orleans to the Burgundians.]
*À tout oiseau son nid est beau = Home is home, be it ever so
homely. (See Chez.)
“Aux petits des oiseaux il donne leur pâture” = He that sends
mouths sends meat.
[Racine, Athalie, ii. 7.]
À vue d’oiseau = A bird’s-eye view.
À vol d’oiseau = As the crow flies.
[173]
*“L’oisiveté est la mère de tous les vices” = “For Satan finds
some mischief still for idle hands to do.”—Watts,
Divine Songs, xx. (See Fille.)
[Collé, La Partie de Chasse de Henri IV., iii. 1. Also:
Négligence mène déchéance = Idle men tempt the devil.]
On est un sot = “They-say-so” is half a liar.
[Note that there is no liaison after On here.]
Il a de l’esprit jusqu’au bout des ongles = He is witty to the
tips of his fingers; He is extremely witty.
Il a bec et ongles = He will fight with beak and claw, tooth
and nail.
*Dans les petites boîtes les bons onguents = Small parcels hold
fine wares. (See Aune.)
Il opine du bonnet = He agrees with the previous speakers
without saying a word.
[From the custom of judges who agreed with the decision of a
brother judge, taking off their caps and saying nothing. It is
also said of a subordinate who always agrees with his superior.]
Il se fera tirer l’oreille = He will require pressing.
Il se retira l’oreille basse = He went away crestfallen.
J’ai les oreilles rebattues de cela = I am tired of hearing
that.
Il dort sur les deux oreilles = (lit.) He sleeps soundly;
(fig.) His mind is quite easy.
Il n’écoute que d’une oreille = He pays very little attention
to what is being said.
Ne venez pas ainsi me corner aux oreilles = Do not come and din
it into my ears in that way.
Il fait la sourde oreille = He turns a deaf ear; He pretends
not to hear.
Je n’entends pas de cette oreille-là = I will not listen to
that.
[174]
Par dessus les oreilles = Over head and ears.
Autant lui en pend à l’oreille = He may expect the same
(something unpleasant). (Compare Nez.)
Les oreilles ont dû vous corner (tinter) = Your ears must
have burned.
Je lui frotterai les oreilles = I will twist his tail for him.
*“Vous êtes orfèvre, Monsieur Josse!” = That is a bit of
special pleading; That is not disinterested advice; There’s
nothing like leather!
[Molière, L’Amour Médecin, i. 1. This quotation refers
to Sganarelle’s daughter who suffers from an incurable lowness
of spirits. All his neighbours give him advice as to how to cure
her; among them, Monsieur Josse, a jeweller, suggests that a fine
necklace of diamonds or rubies would undoubtedly cure her. The
father, distracted though he be, is not so far gone as not to see
through this remark, and he replies in the words that have since
become proverbial.]
*Il n’est orgueil que de sot enrichi = Set a beggar on
horseback, he’ll ride to the devil.
*Attendez-moi sous l’orme = You may wait for me till doomsday.
Rabelais jeta le froc aux orties = Rabelais was an unfrocked
priest.
Ôte-toi de là que je m’y mette = You get out and let me get in.
[Origin unknown; probably le Vicomte de Ségur first used it. Comp.
Sancho Panza, “Imitando al juego de los muchachos que dicen ‘Salta
tu y dámela tu’ doy un salto del gobierno.”]
Oublions le passé = Let bygones be bygones.
C’est un ours mal léché = He is an ill-licked cub; He is an
ill-bred [or, ill-shapen] fellow.
[La Fontaine, Fables, xi. 7.]
[175]
C’est le pavé de l’ours = Save me from my friends.
[“Rien n’est si dangereux qu’un ignorant ami
Mieux vaudrait un sage ennemi.”
La Fontaine, Fables, viii. 10.
An old gardener, feeling lonely, had adopted a bear as a
companion. One day, when his master was asleep, he sees a fly on
his face; he tries to drive it away, but it declines to move, so
he takes up a huge paving-stone and kills the fly—and his master
too.]
*Mauvais ouvrier n’a jamais bons outils = A bad workman always
blames his tools.
Il traduit à livre ouvert = He translates at sight.
P.
Tout y va, la paille et le blé = He spends all he has.
Il mourra sur la paille = He will die in the gutter.
Il est sur la paille = He is exceedingly poor.
Tirons à la courte paille = Let us draw lots.
*Cela enlève la paille = “That takes the cake.”
[The French is hardly as popular an expression as the English,
which might be rendered in French by décrocher la timbale.
Quitard derives paille from paîle, a kind of rich cloth given
as a prize in athletic contests. Littré imagines it originated
with amber, which has the property of raising light objects, such
as straw. Madame de Sévigné writes (13th Jan. 1672): “Racine a
fait une comédie qui s’appelle Bajazet et qui enlève la paille.”
The English expression is said to come from the custom of
negroes, when giving a ball, to provide a cake to be given to the
best-dressed couple. The competitors walk round and are judged by
the other guests. Hence the term cake-walk.]
Cet homme est bon comme le pain = That man is goodness itself.
[176]
Il a mangé son pain blanc le premier = He had the best of his
life first; His happiest days are over.
[In many parts of the Continent white bread is not the matter of
course that it is in England; brown or black bread is the usual
fare of the poorer classes.]
*Tel grain, tel pain = What you sow, you must mow.
On lui a fait passer le goût du pain (fam.) = They killed him.
C’est pain bénit = It serves you (him, her, them) right.
Il a du pain sur la planche = He has saved money; He has enough
to live upon; He has put something by for a rainy day; There is
plenty of work for him to do.
*De tout s’avise à qui pain faut (manque) = Necessity is the
mother of invention.
*Pain tant qu’il dure, vin à mesure = Eat at pleasure, drink by
measure.
*Il ne vaut pas le pain qu’il mange = He is not worth his salt.
Il sait son pain manger = He knows on which side his bread is
buttered.
*C’est un long jour qu’un jour sans pain = ’Tis a long lane
that has no turning.
*Pain dérobé réveille appétit = Stolen joys are sweet.
[“Pain qu’on dérobe et qu’on mange en cachette,
Vaut mieux que pain qu’on cuit et qu’on achète.”
La Fontaine, Les Troqueurs.]
Je ne mange pas de ce pain-là = I don’t go in for that sort of
thing.
Hors de pair = Beyond all comparison; Above the level of others.
Traiter quelqu’un de pair à compagnon = To be
hail-fellow-well-met with any one; To treat any one on an equal
footing.
*Les deux font la paire (fam.) = They are well matched;
Arcades ambo.
[177]
*Je l’ai envoyé paître (fam.) = I sent him about his business.
Paix et peu = Anything for a quiet life.
*Adieu paniers, vendanges sont faites = You come too late, it
is all over.
[The chorus of an old glee sung by the grape-pickers when their
labours were finished. Comp. Rabelais, Gargantua,
xxvii.]
Vous me donnez le dessus du panier = You give me the best, the
pick.
[Le dessous du panier = the refuse.]
C’est un panier percé = He is a spendthrift.
Donner dans le panneau = To fall into the trap.
Il n’a pas fait une panse d’a aujourd’hui = He has not done a
stroke all day.
[Panse d’a = the round part of an a.]
Il n’est pas dans mes petits papiers = He is not in my good
books.
[“Oh! pourvu que je sois
Dans les petits papiers du Mercure François.”
Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, ii. 8.]
Je lui ai donné son paquet = I gave him the sack.
Faire un paquet = To make a parcel.
Faire son paquet = To pack up and go.
De par le roi = By the king’s command.
[“De par le roi, défense à Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu.”
A cynical couplet that arose when Louis XV. prohibited pilgrimages
to the tomb of François de Pâris, behind the Church of St. Médard
in Paris, because of the Convulsionnaires.]
Sans qu’il y paraisse, c’est un homme fort instruit = Without
making any show he is a very well-informed man.
A ce qu’il me paraît = As far as I can judge, see.
[178]
Le livre vient de paraître = The book is just out, just
published.
Il n’y paraît plus = There is no trace of it.
Il n’y paraît pas = One would not have thought it.
J’ai le pareil = I have one like it.
Je vous rendrai la pareille = 1. I will pay you out. 2. I will
do the same for you.
On n’a jamais vu chose pareille = One never heard of such a
thing.
*Ce sont les paresseux qui font le plus de chemin = Lazy people
take the most pains.
Parier Il y a cent (or, gros) à parier qu’ils ne reviendront
pas = The odds are that they will not come back.
Il prend Paris pour Corbeil, le Pirée pour un homme = “He does
not know a hawk from a handsaw.”
[Hamlet, ii. 2, where “handsaw” is a corruption of hernshaw =
heron. This was an old proverb, corrupted before Shakespeare’s day.
“Pour grain ne prenant paille ou Paris pour
Corbeil.”—Régnier, Sat. xiv.]
Le Tout-Paris de ce temps-là = The fashionable world of Paris
of that day.
Nous parlions de la pluie et du beau temps = We were not
talking of anything important or confidential; We were talking of
indifferent matters.
Parler de bouche
Au cœur ne touche |
}= |
Lip worship does not
reach the heart. |
C’est à vous à parler = It is your turn to speak.
C’est à vous de parler = It is your duty to speak.
Qu’il vienne, il trouvera à qui parler = Let him come, he will
find his match.
[179]
Trop gratter cuit, trop parler nuit = Least said, soonest
mended; Speech is silvern, silence is golden.
[Italian: Chi parla semina, chi tace raccoglie = Who speaks sows,
who keeps silence reaps.
Qui d’autruy parler voudra
Regarde soi et il taira.]
*Jamais beau parler n’écorcha la langue = Fair words never did
harm; Civility costs nothing.
Il a son franc parler = He is free-spoken.
*Vous avez la parole = It is your turn to speak; You are
allowed to speak (i.e. you have caught the Speaker’s eye). See
Avoir.
Je lui coupai la parole = I interrupted him.
*Un homme d’honneur n’a que sa parole = An honest man’s word is
as good as his bond.
Être de parole = To be as good as one’s word.
Manquer de parole (or, manquer à sa parole) = To break one’s
word.
Tenir parole = To keep one’s word.
En bonne ou mauvaise part = In a good or bad sense.
Nous le savons de bonne part = We know it on good authority.
Il est bien partagé = The Fates have been kind to him.
Il a pris son parti = 1. He has made up his mind. 2. He has
resigned himself to it.
De parti pris = Deliberately.
C’est un parti pris = His mind is made up; It is a foregone
conclusion.
C’est un parti pris chez lui de toujours contredire = He will
always contradict.
A parti pris point de conseil = Advice is useless when a man’s
mind is made up.
Il tire parti de tout = He makes a profit out of everything.
[180]
Il sait tirer parti de la vie = He knows how to make the best
of life.
Il a épousé un bon parti = He made a good match.
Il vous fera un mauvais parti = He will try and pick a quarrel
with you so as to ill-use you, to do you harm.
Il m’a pris à partie = He took me to task; (legally) He
summoned me.
[Partie is literally a man who pleads against any one in a
lawsuit. Compare:
“Va, je suis ta partie et non pas ton bourreau.”
Corneille, Cid, 839.]
C’était une partie nulle = It was a drawn game.
Marcher à pas de géant = To put on one’s seven-league boots.
Se tirer d’un mauvais pas = To get out of an awkward fix
(scrape).
*Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte = In everything the
beginning is the most difficult part; The first step downward
makes the others easier.
[“Il n’y a que le premier obstacle qui coûte à
vaincre.”—Bossuet, Pensées chrétiennes, 9.]
Il prend le pas sur moi = He takes precedence of me.
J’y vais de ce pas = I am going there directly.
Je le mettrai au pas = I will put him on his good behaviour.
Marquer le pas = (lit.) To mark time; (fig.) To wait for a post
to which one has a right.
Marchez au pas = Drive slowly; Walk in step.
Il est en passe de devenir ministre = He is in a fair way (he
stands a good chance) to become a Cabinet Minister.
Il faut bien que j’en passe par là = I must submit to that; I
must put up with it.
[181]
Nous ne pouvons nous passer de cela = We cannot do without that.
*Passons au déluge = We know all about that, let us come to the
point; Don’t let us go over all that again, we will take it for
granted.
[Racine, Plaideurs, iii. 3; where L’Intimé, the lawyer,
wishes to relate the history of the world from the creation, and
Dandin, the judge, begs him to skip all until the flood.]
Cette couleur passera = That colour will fade.
*Passe-moi la casse (rhubarbe), je te passerai le séné = Claw
me and I’ll claw thee; One hand washes the other, and both wash
the face.
Passez-moi ce mot-là = Excuse the expression.
J’en passe ... et des meilleurs = Some of the best I pass over.
[Victor Hugo, Hernani, iii. 6.]
On ne passe pas = No thoroughfare.
[Rue barrée = Road stopped.]
Vous faites des pattes de mouche = You have a small, ill-formed
handwriting.
Il marche à quatre pattes = He walks on all-fours.
Aux pauvres la besace = The back is made for the burden.
L’homme pauvre est toujours en pays étranger = The poor are
never welcomed; All bite the bitten dog.
*Pauvreté n’est pas vice = Poverty is no crime.
Les pavés le disent = It is in every one’s mouth.
Il est sur le pavé = He is out of work.
Prendre le haut du pavé = To take the wall.
Payer de sa personne = To bravely expose oneself to danger; To
risk one’s skin.
[182]
Être payé pour savoir = To know a thing to one’s cost.
Payer d’audace = To put on a bold face; To brazen a thing out.
Payer les violons = To pay the piper.
Je ne me paye pas de mauvaises raisons = I will only be
satisfied with good reasons.
Vous vous payez de mots = You are the dupe of words; You are
taken in by empty words.
Il me la payera = I will make him smart for it.
Qui paye ses dettes s’enrichit = Debt is the worst kind of
poverty.
Payer son écot = To pay one’s share (scot).
Il veut se payer ma tête = He wishes to have the laugh of me.
*Pays ruiné vaut mieux que pays perdu = Half a loaf is better
than no bread.
Je lui ferai voir du pays = I will lead him a pretty dance.
*Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué =
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched; First catch
your hare.
[“Il m’a dit qu’il ne faut jamais
Vendre la peau de l’ours qu’on ne l’ait mis par terre.”
La Fontaine, Fables, v. 20.]
Il crève dans sa peau (fam.) = (lit.) He is extremely fat;
(fig.) He is bursting with pride, spite.
Faire peau neuve = To turn over a new leaf.
*Péché avoué est à demi pardonné = A fault confessed is half
redressed.
Elle est laide comme les sept péchés capitaux = She is as ugly
as sin.
[183]
On est puni par où l’on a péché =
“The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us.”
[King Lear, v. 3.]
Cela ne vaut pas la peine = It is not worth the trouble; It is
not worth while.
Mourir à la peine = 1. To die in harness. 2. To work oneself to
death.
Je ne peux pas le voir même en peinture = I hate the very sight
of that man.
Il y avait quatre pelés et un tondu = There were only a few
people and those of no importance; Only the tag, rag, and bobtail
were there.
*La pelle se moque du fourgon = It is the pot calling the
kettle black.
[Another English variant is: “The kiln calls the oven: Burnt
house.” The Italians say: “La padella dice al pajuolo, ‘Fatti
ni la che tu me tigni’” = The pan says to the pot, “Keep off or
you’ll smutch me.” The Germans: “Ein Esel schimpft den andern
Langohr” = One ass nicknames another Longears.]
Remuer l’argent à la pelle = To have plenty of money.
Il a fait sa pelote = He has feathered his nest.
Cet homme n’a pas son pendant (or, pareil) = That man has not
his match.
Il a dit pis que pendre de vous = He said everything that was
bad of you; According to him, hanging is too good for you.
À ce que je pense = To my mind.
Sans penser à mal = Without meaning any mischief.
Rien que d’y penser j’en ai le frisson = The bare thought of it
makes me shudder.
Cela donne furieusement à penser = That is very suggestive.
[184]
Sans arrière-pensée = Without reserve; With no after-thought.
*Un de perdu, deux de retrouvés = When one door shuts, another
opens.
Je m’y perds = I am getting bewildered; I cannot make head or
tail of it.
Il perd la carte = He is getting confused.
C’est du bien perdu = It is casting pearls before swine.
*Qui perd pèche = He who loses sins; Nothing succeeds like
success.
*Toujours des perdrix = The best things pall in time.
Nous ne sommes pas ici pour enfiler des perles = We are not
here to trifle our time away.
Ce n’est pas le Pérou (fam.) = It’s no great catch.
C’est la bonté en personne = He (or, She) is kindness itself.
À perte de vue = As far as the eye can reach.
Je suis en perte = I am out of pocket.
J’ai fait cela en pure perte = What I have done is completely
useless; All I have done is to no purpose.
Il vaut son pesant d’or = He is worth his weight in gold.
Elles sont aux petits soins pour leur vieille mère = They are
all attention to their old mother.
*Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières = Many a little
makes a mickle.
*Petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid = Little strokes fell
great oaks. (See Maille and Ruisseau.)
[Also: Grain à grain amasse la fourmi son pain.
Peu à peu la vieille file sa quenouille.
Latin: Adde parvum parvo tandem fit magnus acervus.
Italian: A passo a passo se va lontana.
Little and often fills the purse.]
[185]
En petit = On a small scale.
*Petit mercier, petit panier = A small pack becomes a small
pedlar.
[“Little boats should keep the shore,
Larger ships may venture more.”
Latin: Pauper agat caute.]
*Petite cervelle, prompte colère = A little pot is soon hot.
Je suis dans le pétrin (fam.) = I am in a mess, fix.
Les finances sont en ce moment dans un pétrin impossible = The
finances are in horrible disorder just now.
Si peu que rien = Next to nothing.
Imaginez un peu! = Just fancy!
Pour peu que cela vous ennuie = However little it annoys you.
Tant soit peu meilleur = Be it ever so little better; A shade
better.
À peu de chose près = Not far off.
Elle était mise à faire peur = She looked a fright.
Il a eu plus de peur que de mal = He was more frightened than
hurt.
Faire des phrases = To speak affectedly.
*Il a trouvé la pie au nid = He has found a mare’s nest.
Elle jase comme une pie borgne = She chatters like a magpie.
J’ai fait cela de toutes pièces = I have done that entirely
(i.e. every part of it).
Je lui ai donné la pièce = I gave him a trifle, tip.
C’est la pièce de résistance = It is the principal dish (of a
meal).
Il a bon pied, bon œil = He is hale and hearty.
Sur le pied où en sont les choses = Considering how matters
stand.
[186]
Il ne sait sur quel pied danser = He does not know which way to
turn.
Partir du bon pied = To put one’s best foot foremost.
Je ferai des pieds et des mains pour vous être utile = I will
do my utmost (strain every nerve) to serve you.
Armé de pied en cap = Armed from head to foot, cap-à-pie.
Le pied m’a manqué = My foot slipped.
Mettre (quelqu’un) à pied = (fam.) To dismiss (a
functionary); To deprive a cabman of his licence.
Il a trouvé chaussure à son pied = He has found just what he
wanted; He has found his match.
Lâcher pied = 1. To lose ground. 2. To scamper away.
Lever le pied = To decamp (of a dishonest banker, etc.).
Vous m’avez tiré une épine du pied = (fig.) You have got me out
of a difficulty. (See Épine.)
J’ai fait mon travail d’arraché pied = I did my work straight
off, without stopping.
De plain pied = On the same level (of rooms on the same floor,
or on a level with the ground).
Il a le pied marin = He has got his sea-legs; He is a good
sailor.
Sauter à pieds joints sur quelqu’un = (fig.) To ride rough-shod
over any one.
Il ne se mouche pas du pied (pop.) = 1. He is a man of
importance; He gives himself airs. 2. He is no fool.
[A favourite trick of a tumbler in olden times was to take one
of his feet in his hands and pass it quickly under his nose.
Hence the expression would be equivalent to: he is no tumbler or
common fellow. “N’est pas un homme, non, qui se mouche du pied.”
Molière, Tartufe, iv. 5.]
[187]
Aller du pied (or, Courir) comme un chat maigre = To be a
good walker.
Il sèche sur pied = He is pining away.
La mort l’a pris au pied levé = Death took him without a
moment’s notice.
[Literally, just at the moment he was starting to go out.]
*Faire d’une pierre deux coups = To kill two birds with one
stone.
*Pierre qui roule n’amasse pas mousse = A rolling stone gathers
no moss.
[The Greek form was: λίθος κυλινδόμενος τὸ φῦκος οὐ ποιεῖ.]
Cela ferait rire un tas de pierres = That would make a cat
laugh.
Sa montre est au mont de piété = His watch is at the
pawnbroker’s. (See Accrocher.)
Avoir pignon sur rue = To have a house of one’s own.
Jouer à pile ou face = To play pitch and toss, heads or tails.
Il n’a ni croix ni pile = He has not a rap.
[“Sans croix ne pile.”—La Fontaine, Contes, ii.
“Whacum had neither cross nor pile.”—Butler, Hudibras,
ii. 3. Pile is literally the reverse of a coin.]
C’est un pilier d’estaminet (or, de café) = He is a
public-house lounger, a pub-loafer.
Dorer la pilule = To gild the pill.
Casser sa pipe (pop.) = To kick the bucket; To hop the twig; To
die.
Piquer la curiosité de quelqu’un = To rouse some one’s
curiosity.
Il se pique d’un rien = He takes offence at the slightest thing.
Il s’est piqué d’honneur = He made it a point of honour; He was
put upon his mettle.
[188]
Piquer des deux = (lit.) To spur a horse with both heels; To
gallop off at full speed; (fig.) To run very fast.
Piquer une tête (fam.) = To take a header.
Voilà un discours qui n’est pas piqué des vers = That’s a fine
speech if you like [lit. not worm-eaten.]
Se piquer au jeu = (lit.) To continue obstinately to play
although losing; (fig.) To go on in an enterprise in spite of all
obstacles.
*Qui va à la chasse perd sa place = If you leave your place,
you lose it.
“Accordez-vous si votre affaire est bonne,
Si votre cause est
mauvaise, plaidez.”
[J. B. Rousseau, Épigrammes, ii.
19] = If you’ve a good case, try and compromise; If you’ve a bad
one, take it into court.
Il ne demande que plaie et bosse = He seeks quarrels only to
draw profit from them.
Il ne cherche que plaie et bosse = He is always hankering after
a black eye.
Une bonne plaisanterie mérite les honneurs du bis = A good tale
is none the worse for being told twice.
Reléguer (mettre) au second plan = To put into the background.
Faire la planche = 1. To show others the way; 2. To float on
one’s back.
C’est sa planche de salut = It is his last hope, his
sheet-anchor.
Le plancher des vaches (fam.) = Dry land; Terra firma.
Débarrasse-moi le plancher (fam.) = Get out of my way.
Vous m’avez planté là = You left me without any warning; You
left me in the lurch.
[189]
Il nous a servi un plat de son métier (or, de sa façon) = He
played us one of his tricks.
On mit les petits plats dans les grands pour le bien recevoir
(fam.) = They spared neither trouble nor money to receive him
well; They received him with much fuss.
Il a mis les pieds dans le plat (fam.) = He put his foot in it.
Ce mari bat sa femme comme plâtre = That husband beats his wife
like a dog.
Essuyer les plâtres = To live in a newly-built house (and
therefore damp). (See Essuyer.)
Battre son plein = To be in full swing.
Plein comme un œuf (fam.) = Chock-full.
En pleine rue = In the open street.
En pleine mer = On the high seas.
La niaise! pleurer à chaudes larmes pour une vétille = The
silly girl! to cry her eyes out for a trifle.
Pleuvoir des hallebardes = To rain cats, dogs, and pitchforks.
Cela ne fera pas un pli = There will not be the slightest
difficulty.
Si vous n’y prenez (pas) garde, il prendra un mauvais pli = If
you are not careful he will get into bad habits.
*Après la pluie le beau temps = Every cloud has a silver lining.
Nous parlions de la pluie et du beau temps = We were talking of
indifferent matters.
Il fait la pluie et le beau temps dans cette maison = His will
is law in that house; He is the boss of that show (fam.).
*Plus on a, plus on veut avoir = Much would have more.
[190]
Il connaît Paris comme sa poche = He knows Paris perfectly; He
knows all the ins and outs of Paris; His knowledge of Paris is
extensive and peculiar.
Un brave à trois poils = The bravest of the brave; A hero of
the first water.
[This expression is derived from three-piled velvet. See
Molière, Les Précieuses Ridicules, 12.]
Monter à poil = To ride barebacked.
*Un point à temps en épargne cent = A stitch in time saves nine.
[Spanish: Quien no adoba gotera adoba casa entera = Who repairs
not his gutter repairs his whole house.]
Cela vient à point = That comes opportunely.
La viande est cuite à point = The meat is done to a turn.
Vous venez à point nommé = You come in the nick of time, at the
necessary moment, just when you are wanted.
Mettez les points sur les i = Be precise, clear (in speaking or
writing); Cross your t’s and dot your i’s.
Il vous rendrait des points = He is more than a match for you;
He could give you points.
Il vous rendra des points = He will give you odds (at a game).
Il y a un point noir à l’horizon = There are breakers ahead.
*Coupons la poire en deux = Let us split the difference.
Elle faisait trop sa poire (pop.) = She needed pressing; She
played the prude (or, disdainful).
[“Il était trop homme pour faire sa poire.”]
Nous en causerons entre la poire et le fromage = We will talk
it over at dessert.
Garder une poire pour la soif = To lay up something for a rainy
day.
[191]
On lui a fait un poisson d’avril = They made him an April fool.
Je suis comme un poisson sur la paille = I am like a fish out
of water.
C’est le secret de Polichinelle = It is an open secret; Every
one knows it.
Il a avalé la pratique de Polichinelle = He is very hoarse.
[La pratique de Polichinelle is the squeaker that a
Punch-and-Judy man puts in his mouth during a performance.]
*Force politesse, trop de finesse = Full of courtesy, full of
craft.
Il se porte comme le Pont Neuf = He is in splendid health.
C’est vieux comme le Pont Neuf = Queen Anne is dead; It is as
old as the hills.
[The Pont Neuf was finished in 1604 during the reign of Henry IV.,
and is now the oldest bridge in Paris. The statue of Henry IV. in
the middle of the bridge was erected originally in 1635, but the
present one dates only from 1818.
Another expression is:
Henri Quatre est sur le Pont Neuf = That’s stale news.]
Il a l’air de revenir de Pontoise = He looks down in the mouth;
He answers in a silly fashion.
[The origin of this expression is said to be that in 1720 and in
1753 the Parlement was exiled to Pontoise, about twenty miles
north of Paris, for its rebellion to the King. Perhaps from the
fact that when they returned they were besieged with questions, to
which they gave confused answers, the saying arose and was applied
to anyone that had a simple, idiotic appearance.]
Ils ont mis la clef sous la porte = They absconded.
Il faut qu’une porte soit ouverte ou fermée = You must decide
one way or the other.
[The title of one of Alfred de Musset’s Proverbes.]
On l’a mis à la porte = They turned him out.
Il a été mis à la porte par les oreilles et les deux épaules =
He was turned out ignominiously, neck and crop.
[192]
On a condamné la porte = The door is nailed up, blocked up.
À sa portée (or, à portée de sa main) = Within his reach.
À (la) portée de la voix = Within call.
À (une) portée de fusil = Within gunshot.
C’est elle qui porte la culotte = She is mistress in this house
(not her husband); The grey mare is the better horse.
On le porte aux nues = They praise him to the skies.
Ses plaisanteries portent coup = His jokes hit the mark.
C’est un poseur = He is a prig (lit. attitudiniser).
[There are several varieties of prigs, e.g.—
un savantasse = a learned prig.
un collet monté = a stiff-and-starched prig.
un cafard = a Pecksniff.
un fat = a conceited ass.
un freluquet = a whipper-snapper.
See Journal of Education, March 1896.]
*En fait de meubles possession vaut titre = Possession is nine
points of the law.
Pas possible! = You don’t say so! “Well, I never!”
Il découvrit bientôt le pot aux roses = He soon found out the
secret.
*Un pot fêlé dure longtemps = A creaking door hangs long:
Ailing folk live longest.
*Il n’y a si méchant pot qui ne trouve son couvercle = Every
Jack must have his Jill.
[Also: À un boiteux, femme qui cloche.]
Il a reçu un pot-de-vin = He received a bribe, an illicit
commission.
[A pot-de-vin is a gratuity given to B by A because B obtained
for A an order from C. It implies the idea of a bribe, for if
everything had been fair A would not have obtained his order from
C, either because his terms were too high or his wares not good
enough.]
[193]
Payer les pots cassés = To stand the racket; To pay the damage;
To face the music.
Tourner autour du pot = To beat about the bush.
C’est le pot de terre contre le pot de fer = It is a most
unequal combat.
Je vais potasser (piocher) un brin (students’ slang) = I’m
going to swot (mug up) a bit.
Faire du potin (chambard, boucan) (pop.) = To kick up a
row, a shindy.
Manger sur le pouce = To take a snack.
Mettre les pouces = To give in, to knuckle under.
Lire du pouce (or, doigt) = To skip in reading (i.e. to do
more work with the thumb than the brain).
*Il n’a pas inventé la poudre = He will never set the Thames on
fire.
C’est une poule mouillée = He is a milk-sop.
Mettre un homme en pourpoint = To pull a man’s cloak off; To
ruin a man.
Se mettre en pourpoint = To be ready to fight; To roll up one’s
sleeves.
Tirer un coup (de pistolet, etc.) à brûle-pourpoint = To fire
point-blank.
Un argument à brûle-pourpoint = A convincing argument.
Donner à quelqu’un un pourpoint de pierre = To give any one a
stone doublet; To imprison any one.
Je n’y puis rien = I cannot help it; I can do nothing in the
matter.
Si faire se peut = If possible.
Je n’en puis plus = I am done up, exhausted.
Je n’en puis mais = I cannot help it; It is no fault of mine.
(See Mais.)
Cela se peut = That may be.
[194]
Cela ne se peut pas = It cannot possibly be; It cannot be done.
On fait comme on peut = We must do the best we can; We have
done the best we could.
Il est toujours on ne peut plus aimable = He is always as nice
as can be.
Il prêche dans le désert = (lit.) He preaches to empty benches;
(fig.) All his talking will not convince any one.
Chacun prêche pour son saint = Every one has an eye to his own
interest.
Nous sommes au premier = We are on the first floor.
Nous sommes en première = We are in a first-class railway
carriage.
Le premier venu = (fig.) No matter who (or, whom); The man in
the street.
*Les premiers vont devant = First come, first served.
[“Whoso first cometh to the mill, first grint.”—Chaucer.]
Il prend sur son sommeil pour étudier = He works far into the
night.
C’est autant de pris sur l’ennemi = So much saved out of the
fire; So much to the good.
Bien lui en prit d’avoir fermé sa porte = It was lucky for him
that he shut his door.
Il prend le chemin de l’hôpital = He is on the highway to ruin.
Je m’en prends à vous = I lay the blame at your door.
Je vous y prends = I catch you at it.
Ça ne prend pas (fam.) = “That’s no go.”
Je sors d’en prendre (fam.) = I had rather be excused; You will
not catch me again so soon.
Qu’est-ce qui vous prend? = What is the matter with you?
[This is said to persons doing something suddenly without any
apparent reason, or suddenly becoming bad-tempered, etc., not to
invalids.]
[195]
Je vais vous montrer comment il faut s’y prendre = I am going
to show you how to set about it.
*Ce qui est bon à prendre est bon à garder = What is worth
taking is worth keeping; “Findings, keepings.”
Prenez-vous-en à vous-même = You have yourself to thank for it.
À tout prendre = On the whole; Everything considered.
À cela près il est bon enfant = Except for that he is a good
fellow.
Il n’y a pas presse = There is no hurry!
*Plus on se presse, moins on arrive = The more haste, the less
speed.
Fendre la presse = To make one’s way through the crowd.
Courir la pretentaine = To gad about.
Il prête de l’argent à la petite semaine = He lends money for a
short time at a high rate of interest.
Un prêté pour un rendu = A Roland for an Oliver.
Prêter le flanc à ... = To lay oneself open to...
Prêter serment = To take the oath.
Ce drap prête = This stuff gives, stretches.
Elle prime par sa laideur = She takes the cake for ugliness.
Aux frais de la Princesse = At another’s expense (chiefly of
the State Government).
Ils étaient aux prises = They had closed; They were at close
quarters.
Je les ai mis aux prises = I have set them one against the
other.
Je leur ai donné prise sur moi = I gave them a handle on me.
Lâcher prise = To let go one’s hold.
[196]
Sans autre forme de procès = Without any more ado.
Je l’ai envoyé promener (or, paître) = I sent him about his
business.
Va te promener! (fam.) = Go to Jericho! Get along with you!
[Compare: “Βάλλ᾽ εἰς μακαρίαν” = Go to Glory.—Plato,
Hipp. Major, 293A—a euphemism for Βάλλ᾽ εἰς ἅδον.]
*Chose promise, chose due = Promises should be kept.
Promettre et tenir sont deux = It is one thing to promise,
another to perform.
Il est venu fort à propos = He came very opportunely.
À propos, viendrez-vous ce soir? = By the way, shall you come
this evening?
L’à-propos fait le mérite = Seasonableness gives everything its
price.
À propos de bottes = With reference to nothing in particular;
With no reference to the subject in hand.
Il le dit à tout propos = He says it on every occasion, at
every turn.
Il l’a fait de propos délibéré = He did it of set purpose; He
had made up his mind to do it.
Il l’a fait fort mal à propos = He did it very unseasonably,
just at the wrong time.
C’est du propre (ironic.) = A fine thing indeed.
Il n’a rien en propre = He has nothing of his own.
Un propre-à-rien = A good-for-naught.
Propre à tout et bon à rien = Jack of all trades and master of
none.
Propre comme un sou neuf = As clean as a whistle; As neat as a
new pin.
[197]
Je ne le ferai pas pour des prunes (fam.) = I shall not do it
for nothing.
[Also: Je ne le ferai pas pour le roi de Prusse. This latter
saying is said to have originated with Voltaire, who, after
having been exceedingly intimate with Frederick the Great, King
of Prussia, finally quarrelled with him. Both this King and his
father, Frederick William I., were known to be exacting and
miserly.]
Je lui ai mis la puce à l’oreille = I made him feel uneasy (by
rousing his suspicions, etc.); I sent him away with a flea in his
ear.
Cet homme est un puits de science = He is a man of deep
learning.
Q.
Je le ferai quand même = I shall do it just the same; I shall
do it whatever it may cost.
Se tenir sur son quant-à-soi = To stand on one’s dignity.
Le quart d’heure de Rabelais = The moment of payment. (See
Heure.)
Passer un mauvais quart d’heure = To have a bad time of it.
Avoir quinte et quatorze = To have the game in one’s own hand.
[This phrase refers to terms used in the game of piquet. Quinte
is to have five cards of the same colour, which counts fifteen.
Quatorze is to have four cards of the same value (i.e. four
knaves, aces, etc.), and counts fourteen.]
Il se mettrait en quatre pour un ami = He would go through fire
and water for a friend.
Faire le diable à quatre = To kick up a terrible noise; To
exert oneself to the utmost.
[This expression originated in the time of the miracle plays, when
four performers represented la grande diablerie, and less than
four la petite diablerie.]
[198]
Entre quatre-z-yeux (fam.) = Between ourselves.
On le tenait à quatre = It needed four men to hold him down.
Il se tenait à quatre pour ne pas lui dire des injures = It was
as much as he could do not to abuse him.
Travailler comme quatre = To work like a nigger.
*Ce que c’est que la vie! = What a strange thing life is! What
poor mortals we are! (See Ce.)
Ses louanges ne laissent pas que de me faire plaisir = I cannot
help feeling pleased at his kind words.
La pièce n’est que quelconque = The piece (i.e. the play) is
quite an ordinary one.
C’est une famille où l’esprit est tombé en quenouille = In that
family only the women are clever; In that family the brains are
on the distaff side.
N’épousez pas sa querelle = Do not take up his quarrel.
Ils veulent vider leur querelle = They want to fight it out.
Il serait bon à aller quérir la mort = He is very slow.
Mettre en question = To call in question; To doubt.
Mettre à la question = To put to the torture.
Qu’il n’en soit plus question = Do not bother me about it any
more; Let bygones be bygones. (See Oublier.)
J’ai fait queue au théâtre pendant une heure = I waited outside
the theatre for an hour (before I could get in).
On fait queue au théâtre = There is a crowd at the door of the
theatre (waiting for admittance).
[199]
À la queue gît le venin = The sting is in the tail.
Aller à la queue leu-leu = To go in Indian file.
[Leu was the old French form of loup, so the phrase means to
walk as wolves do, one after the other.]
Tenir la queue de la poêle = To be the leading spirit in an
affair.
Pour qui connaît = To any one who knows.
Ils s’échappèrent qui par la porte, qui par les fenêtres = Some
escaped through the door, others through the windows.
*Qui s’excuse s’accuse = A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
C’est à qui le fera = They all wish to do it; They vie with one
another to do it. (See Mieux.)
Être réduit à quia = To be reduced to “because....”; To be
nonplussed.
Me voilà quitte envers lui = I owe him nothing now.
Vous en êtes quitte à bon marché = You come off cheap.
J’en ai été quitte pour la peur = I escaped with a good fright.
J’irai, quitte à être grondé = I shall go, even if I am
scolded; I shall go, and chance the scolding.
J’ai de quoi payer = I have enough to pay.
Il n’y a pas là de quoi pleurer = It is not worth crying about.
Il n’y a pas de quoi rire = It is no laughing matter.
Il n’y a pas de quoi (fam.) = Pray don’t mention it; There is
no necessity to apologise. (See Avoir.)
De quoi vous mêlez-vous? = What business is that of yours?
[200]
Un je ne sais quoi = A “something” (I know not what).
[Elle avait je ne sais quoi de charmant = She had a vague,
indescribable charm.]
C’est un filou, quoi! (pop.) = In a word, he’s a scamp.
R.
Vente au rabais = Sale at reduced prices; “Selling off.”
Rabattre le caquet à quelqu’un (pop.) = To take a person down a
peg; To stop his jaw; To cut his cackle.
Il n’a pas un radis (fam.) = He has not a brass farthing. (See
Liard.)
Cela passe la raillerie = That is beyond a joke. (See
Entendre.)
Il n’entend pas raison là-dessus = He will not listen to reason
on that point.
Se faire raison à soi-même = To take the law into one’s own
hands.
Comme de raison = Rightly enough; As might be expected.
Plus que de raison = More than is reasonable.
Raison de plus = All the more reason.
Avoir des raisons avec quelqu’un = To have words with any one;
To quarrel with any one.
Il faut se faire une raison = We must be guided by reason; We
must look at things from a reasonable point of view.
[E.g. not go on worrying after a great loss.]
Donner raison à quelqu’un = To say any one is right; To give
satisfaction to any one (either legally or by a duel).
[201]
On l’a mis au rancart = He has been put on the shelf.
[Also: Il est sous la remise.]
*Tel qui brille au second rang s’éclipse au premier = A good
subordinate often makes a bad leader.
Il s’est rangé = He has settled down (after sowing his wild
oats).
Vous devenez bien rare = You are quite a stranger.
C’est un raseur (fam.) = He is a bore.
[Une bassinoire = a passive bore.]
Il est gueux comme un rat d’église = He is as poor as a church
mouse.
Il ne se foule pas la rate (pop.) = He does not overwork
himself; He takes things easily.
[Also: Il ne se foule pas le poignet.]
Cela lui désopilera la rate = That will cheer him up.
Il mange à plus d’un râtelier = He has more than one string to
his bow; He gains money from different sources.
*Bien fin qui me rattrapera = Once bit, twice shy; They won’t
catch me doing that again.
Il prend les choses à rebours = He misconstrues everything.
À rebrousse poil = Against the grain; (To rub) the wrong way.
Je vous reconnais bien là = That is just like you.
Je ne m’y reconnais plus = I don’t know where I am, what I am
about; I am quite at sea.
[202]
Il a reculé pour mieux sauter = 1. He waited for something
better. 2. (ironic.) He avoided a small evil to fall into a
greater.
[Compare: Mieux reculer que mal assaillir.]
Marcher à reculons = To walk backwards.
Il trouve toujours à redire = He is always finding fault.
Il n’y a rien à redire à cela = There is no fault to be found
with that; That is quite all right.
Réflexion faite = After due reflection; On second thoughts.
C’est le refrain de la ballade = It is the old story over again.
[“C’est toujours le refrain qu’ils font à leur
ballade.”—Régnier, Sat. i.]
Cela n’est pas de refus (fam.) = That is very acceptable; I
won’t say no to that.
*Qui refuse muse =
“He who will not when he may,
When he will he shall have nay.”
N’y regardez pas de si près = Do not be so particular.
Cela ne me regarde pas = That is not my business; That does not
concern me.
J’y regarderai à deux fois = I shall think twice before doing
it.
Il est réglé comme un papier de musique = He is as regular as
clockwork.
Nous poursuivîmes l’ennemi l’épée dans les reins = We followed
the enemy close at his heels.
Il s’est donné un tour de reins = He sprained his back.
Il a les reins solides = (lit.) He is strong; (fig.) He has a
long purse.
C’est un gros réjoui = He is a big jolly fellow.
[203]
*À chose faite point de remède = What is done cannot be undone.
[“Factum est illud: fieri infectum non potest.”—Plautus.]
Gros Jean qui en remontre à son curé = Hodge tries to teach the
Parson how to preach; He teaches his grandmother to suck eggs.
Il a remporté la victoire = He carried the day.
*Renard qui dort la matinée
N’a pas la gueule emplumée =
’Tis the early bird that catches the worm.
Il renchérit sur tout ce qu’il entend dire = He caps every
story he hears told.
Les beaux esprits se rencontrent = Great wits jump together.
[When two persons happen to say the same thing at the same time.]
Pour renfort de potage = Into the bargain; In addition.
[Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, iii. 3.]
C’est toujours la même rengaine (fam.) = It is always the same
old story.
*Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée = A good name is
better than riches. (See Ceinture.)
C’est un homme très répandu = He is a man who goes into society
a great deal.
*Le repentir vient ordinairement trop tard = Do a thing in
haste and repent at leisure.
Je vous en réponds! = I will be bound it is; I should think so,
indeed! You take my word for it.
J’ai appelé mon domestique à plusieurs reprises = I called my
servant several times.
[204]
Il me reproche les morceaux = He grudges me the very food I eat.
Je ne puis m’y résoudre = I cannot make up my mind to do it.
Ce n’est pas de mon ressort = That is not within my province,
“not in my line.”
Il a fait jouer tous les ressorts = He used all the means in
his power.
Ce tribunal juge en dernier ressort = This court tries without
appeal; There is no appeal from the findings of this court.
Je ne veux pas être en reste avec vous = I do not want to do
less for you than you have done for me.
J’en ai de reste = I have more than enough.
Il n’a pas demandé son reste! = He soon took himself off, I can
tell you! He soon shut up, I can tell you!
Il est perdu sans retour = He is past all hope.
Il demeure à l’étranger sans esprit de retour = He is living
abroad without thinking of returning.
Il me paie de retour = He loves (or, hates) me as much as I
love (or hate) him.
[E.g. “Vous dites que vous aimez votre mère, mais elle vous paie
bien de retour.”]
Je sais de quoi il retourne = I know how matters stand.
Battre la retraite = To beat tattoo (or, the retreat.)
Battre en retraite = To retreat.
Je le retrouverai bien = He will not escape me.
Avoir d’une chose à revendre = To have more than enough of a
thing.
*Revenons à nos moutons = But to return to our subject. (See
Mouton.)
[205]
Vous en revenez toujours là = You are always harping on that
string.
Je n’en reviens pas = I cannot get over it (astonishment).
[Or, pop., “j’en suis baba.”]
N’y revenez pas = (lit.) Do not come here again; (fig.) Do not
do that again.
Cela revient à dire = That amounts to saying.
Cela revient au même = That is just the same thing.
Je reviens de loin = (lit.) I come from a long distance; (fig.)
I am recovering from a long illness.
Son nom ne me revient pas = I do not recollect his name.
Sa figure me revient = I like his face.
Je suis bien revenu sur le compte de votre frère = I have lost
all the illusions I had of your brother.
Cet homme rêve tout éveillé = That man dreams with his eyes
open.
*Toute médaille a son revers = There is a dark side to every
picture.
À revoir = To be revised.
Au revoir! = Till we meet again.
La richesse rend honnête = Rich men have no faults.
[The bishop’s pun may be repeated: “Get on, get honour, get
honest.”
“Quand on est couronnée, on a toujours le nez bien
fait.”—Perrault, Les Souhaits ridicules.]
“Dans le siècle où nous sommes,
On ne donne rien pour rien”
= At the present day people give nothing for nothing, and
precious little for sixpence.
[Molière, École des Femmes, iii. 2. Rien here shows
its derivation from rem (a thing). It was not always used with
ne.]
[206]
Ne faites semblant de rien = Look as if nothing were the matter.
Comme si de rien n’était = As if nothing were the matter.
*Qui ne risque rien n’a rien = Nothing venture, nothing win.
[“Qui ne s’aventure perd cheval et mule.”]
*Qui ne demande rien n’a rien = Lose nothing for want of
asking; If you do not ask, you will not get.
Il ne sait rien de rien = 1. He knows absolutely nothing. 2. He
is quite in the dark.
En un rien de temps = In a trice.
En moins de rien = In less than no time.
Pas plus gros que rien = Next to nothing.
Il n’est rien moins que courageux = He is anything but
courageous.
Pour rien au monde = Not for the life of me.
Se rincer la dalle (pop.) = To wet one’s whistle.
*Rira bien qui rira le dernier = They have most to laugh at who
laugh last; Let them laugh that win.
*Tel qui rit vendredi dimanche pleurera = Sorrow treads on the
heels of mirth; Laugh to-day and cry to-morrow.
*Marchand qui perd ne peut rire = Let those laugh who win.
Il a toujours le mot pour rire = He is ever ready with a joke;
He is full of fun.
Il m’a ri au nez = He laughed in my face.
Rire aux éclats = To roar with laughter.
Je me tordais de rire (fam.) = I was splitting my sides with
laughter.
Il riait à gorge déployée = He was roaring with laughter.
Rire dans sa barbe (or, sous cape) = To laugh in one’s
sleeve. (See Cape.)
[207]
Rire du bout des dents = To force a laugh.
Rire jaune = To laugh on the wrong side of one’s mouth.
Rire aux anges = 1. To laugh immoderately; 2. To laugh to
oneself.
C’est un pince-sans-rire = He is a dry joker.
Il est la risée de tout le monde = He is the laughing-stock of
every one.
C’est un homme de la vieille roche = He belongs to the good old
stock; He is a man of the old school.
Clair comme de l’eau de roche = As clear as crystal.
C’est la cour du roi Pétaud = This is bedlam let loose; Dover
Court—all speakers, no hearers.
[Le roi Pétaud (Lat. peto = I ask) was the chief that beggars
used to choose for themselves. As he had no more authority than
his subjects, the name is given to a house where every one is
master. Comp. Molière, Tartufe, i. 1.—
“On n’y respecte rien, chacun y parle haut,
Et c’est tout justement la cour du roi Pétaud.”
A variant is: “C’est une vraie pétaudière.”]
Le roi n’est pas son cousin = He is very haughty (so that he
would not acknowledge the king as his cousin).
Applaudir un acteur à tout rompre = To applaud an actor so as
to bring the house down (to lift the roof).
Il y va rondement = He acts frankly and quickly.
Il mènera cette affaire rondement = He will not dally about
that matter.
Il n’est point de rose sans épines = Every rose has its thorn;
No rose without a thorn.
[208]
Il ne faut pas s’endormir sur le rôti = We must keep our wits
about us; We must not neglect our work; We must not be too slow
over it; We must not rest on our laurels.
[Literally, to go to sleep whilst cooking the meat.]
Il fait la roue = He shows off.
Se fâcher tout rouge = To get into a passion.
Voir rouge = To be seized with a sudden thirst for blood.
Cela marche comme sur des roulettes = That is getting on
swimmingly.
Être plus royaliste que le roi (plus catholique que le pape)
= To out-Herod Herod.
“La royauté, place noyée de lumière où toute tache paraît une
fange sordide” =
“In that fierce light which beats upon a throne
And blackens every blot.”
[Tennyson, Idylls of the King, Dedication.]
Faire (or, payer) rubis sur l’ongle = To pay to the last
farthing.
[This expression means literally to drain a tumbler so completely
that there just remains in it one drop of wine, which being put on
the nail looks like a ruby.
“Je sirote mon vin, quel qu’il soit, vieux, nouveau;
Je fais rubis sur l’ongle, et n’y mets jamais d’eau.”
Regnard, Folies Amoureuses, iii. 4.]
*Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières = Many a little
makes a mickle.
S.
*Autant pèche celui qui tient le sac que celui qui met dedans =
The receiver is as bad as the thief.
[Wer die Letter hält ist so schuldig wie der Dieb.]
Tu sais que je n’ai plus le sac = You know I have no more
money.
[209]
Un homme de sac et de corde = A regular ruffian.
Prendre quelqu’un la main dans le sac = To catch any one in the
very act.
Il m’a laissé voir le fond du sac = I guessed his intentions in
spite of him.
Juger sur l’étiquette du sac = To judge by appearances.
*Dans les petits sacs sont les fines épices = Little fellows
are often great wits; Small parcels hold fine wares. (See Aune
and Onguent.)
Tout le saint-frusquin (fam.) = The whole jolly lot (referring
to money or clothes).
Toute la sainte journée = The whole blessed (or, livelong)
day.
*À bon entendeur salut = A word to the wise is enough. Verb.
sap. (See Avis.)
Cela fait faire du mauvais sang = That causes one to worry.
Suer sang et eau (fam.) = To strain every nerve.
*Bon sang ne peut mentir = Good breeding always shows itself;
Like father, like son.
Sa toux sent le sapin = He has a churchyard cough.
[Sapin = deal, of which coffins are made.]
On ne sait à quelle sauce le mettre = There is no knowing what
to do with him.
*Trop de cuisiniers gâtent la sauce = Too many cooks spoil the
broth.
[Although this may be but a translation of the English proverb, it
is of constant use in France.]
Il fait tout par sauts et par bonds = He does everything by
fits and starts.
Il s’est fait sauter la tête (or, la cervelle, more fam. le
caisson) = He blew his brains out.
Faire sauter la banque = To break the bank (gambling).
[210]
*Sauve qui peut = Every one for himself; Run for your lives.
Je me sauve = I must be off.
Je ne sais comment cela est arrivé = I am at a loss to explain
how it happened.
Pas que je sache = Not to my knowledge.
Je suis tout je ne sais comment = I am out of sorts.
C’est à savoir = That remains to be seen.
Il en sait plus d’une (fam.) = He knows more than one trick; He
knows a trick or two.
Il a beaucoup de savoir faire = He has his wits about him; He
knows how to manage people.
Il a du savoir vivre = He knows how to behave; He is well bred.
Un je ne sais quoi = A “something” (I know not what).
*De savoir vient avoir = Knowledge is power.
*Qui plus sait plus se tait = A still tongue shows a wise head.
*Qui rien ne sait, de rien ne doute = Who knows nothing, doubts
nothing; Ignorance is bliss.
Je lui donnerai un savon (fam.) = I will blow him up.
[German: Ich werde ihm den Kopf waschen.]
Je lui ai fait une scène = 1. I had a row with him. 2. I
reproached (or, abused) him violently.
Quelle scie! (fam.) = What a bother!
Séance tenante = Forthwith; There and then.
C’est un grand sec = He is a tall, spare man.
Sec comme un pendu = As thin as a lath.
Boire sec = To drink hard.
Il est à sec (pop.) = He is hard up, broke, in low water.
Sécher sur pied = To pine away.
[211]
Crier au secours = To cry for help.
*Secret de deux, secret de Dieu,
Secret de trois, secret de tous = No secret but between two.
*À tout seigneur tout honneur = Honour to whom honour is due.
Mettre du sel sous la queue d’un oiseau = To put salt on a
bird’s tail.
Mettre sur la sellette = To cross-question; To haul over the
coals (fam.).
[La sellette was the small wooden seat on which a culprit sat
during his trial.]
Cet officier est de semaine = He is officer of the week.
Il dépensa toute sa semaine = He spent all his week’s wages
(or, pocket-money).
Je le ferai la semaine des trois (quatre) jeudis = I shall do
it in a week of Sundays (i.e. never).
[Also: Je le ferai quand les poules auront des dents.]
Prêter à la petite semaine = To lend money at high interest for
a short time.
A-t-on jamais vu rien de semblable? = Did you ever see such a
thing?
Rien de semblable = Nothing of the sort.
Comme bon vous semble = Just as you please.
Si bon vous semble = If you think fit.
Lever la semelle devant quelqu’un = To show any one a clean
pair of heels.
Cela tombe sous le sens = That is self-evident, obvious.
Sens dessus dessous = Upside down; Topsy-turvy.
Sens devant derrière = Wrong side first.
À contresens = Contrary to the meaning; In the wrong way.
[212]
Cela ne sent pas bon = (fig.) I don’t like the look of that.
Je ne me sens pas de joie = I am beside myself with joy.
Qu’y a-t-il pour votre service? = What can I do for you?
Madame est servie = Dinner is served.
*À quoi sert de vous mettre en colère? = What is the use of
getting angry?
Cela va tout seul = That is no trouble; That works of its own
accord.
Il n’y a pas de si qui fasse = There is no excuse for it.
Avec un si on mettrait Paris dans une bouteille = Such
suppositions are idle; If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Il n’est pas riche.—Oh! que si = He is not rich.—Isn’t he,
though!
*Chacun le sien n’est pas trop = Let each have his own, then
all is fair.
Il fait des siennes = He is up to his old tricks again.
Il en sera du sien = He will be a loser by it.
On n’est jamais trahi que par les siens = It is always one’s
friends (or, confederates) who betray one.
Le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre =
An ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet,
Though they be clad in silk or scarlet.
Il l’a payé en monnaie de singe = He paid him with promises; He
jeered at him instead of paying him.
[This expression originated in the ordinance of St. Louis
regulating the payment of the tolls at the gates of Paris. Showmen
were exempted from payment on causing their apes to skip and dance
in front of the toll-keeper. Comp. Estienne Boileau,
Establissements des métiers de Paris, Chapitre del péage de
Petit Pont:—[213]“Li singes au marchant doibt quatre deniers, se il
por vendre le porte: se li singes est a homme qui l’aist acheté
por son déduit, si est quites, et se li singes est au joueur,
jouer en doibt devant le péagier, et por son jeu doibt estre
quites de toute la chose qu’il achète à son usage et aussitôt le
jongleur sont quite por un ver de chanson.”]
*On ne saurait faire boire un âne s’il n’a soif = One man can
take a horse to the water, but twenty cannot make him drink.
Il songe au solide = He has an eye to the main chance.
Montrer le soleil avec un flambeau = To hold a farthing
rushlight to the sun; To paint the lily.
Je n’ai fait qu’un somme = I never woke all night.
Somme toute = After all; Taking everything into consideration;
To conclude.
En somme = On the whole; In the main.
“Puisqu’en vous il est faux que songes sont mensonges” = Since
with you, it is untrue that dreams go by contraries.
[Molière, Étourdi, iv. 3.]
*Mal d’autrui n’est que songe = Other people’s woes do not
affect us much.
C’est un songe-creux = He is full of idle fancies (or, day
dreams); He is a wool-gatherer.
Elle a quarante ans bien sonnés = She is over forty.
Il est trois heures sonnées = It has struck three.
Payer en bonnes espèces sonnantes (et trébuchantes) = To pay
in hard cash.
Il nous berce de sornettes = He puts us off with silly tales.
Le sort en est jeté = The die is cast; Alea jacta est.
Elle lui a jeté un sort = She cast a spell over him; He is
infatuated with her.
Tirer au sort = To draw lots (for the army, etc.).
[214]
Je lui ai parlé de la bonne sorte = I gave it him soundly; I
gave him a piece of my mind.
Il a fait une sortie = He flew into a passion.
C’est un sot en trois lettres = He is a thorough fool.
Quelque sot le ferait = One would be a fool to do that.
*A sotte question point de réponse = Answer a fool according to
his folly; A silly question needs no answer.
Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l’admire = Even a fool
will always find admirers.
[Boileau, Art Poétique, 1.]
Il n’y a pas de sots métiers, il n’y a que de sottes gens =
People may be petty, but work never is.
Il a fait de cent sous quatre livres, et de quatre livres rien
= He has brought his noble to ninepence, and his ninepence to
nothing.
[Livre here has nothing to do with our English pound sterling.
It is practically the equivalent of the modern franc. Hence the
proverb means: He reduced 100 sous to 80 sous.]
Une affaire de deux sous = A twopenny-halfpenny affair.
Cela vaut mille francs comme un sou = It is worth £40 if it is
worth a penny.
C’est une vraie souche = He is a regular log.
Faire souche = To found a family.
Donner un soufflet à Vaugelas = To murder the King’s English;
To offend Lindley Murray.
[Vaugelas (1585-1650) was a celebrated writer on French grammar,
one of the first members of the Académie Française, and one of
the chief contributors to its Dictionary. Comp. Molière,
Les Femmes Savantes, ii. 7: “Elle y met Vaugelas en pièces tous
les jours.” Donner un soufflet à Ronsard was also used, and, in
the Middle Ages, Casser la tête de Priscien, from the famous
grammarian of the fourth century.]
[215]
*Si souhaits fussent vrais,
Pastoureaux rois seraient. |
} = { |
If wishes were horses,
Beggars would ride.
|
[Compare Si.]
Je t’en souhaite! (pop.) = I wish you may get it.
Souhaiter la bonne année à quelqu’un = To wish some one a happy
new year.
*A merle soûl cerises sont amères = Plenty makes dainty.
Parler tout son soûl (pop.) = To speak to one’s heart’s content.
Être dans ses petits souliers = To be uneasy in one’s mind; To
be on pins and needles.
Il faut se soumettre ou se démettre = One must knuckle under or
clear out.
[Gambetta said this to Marshal MacMahon during the crisis of 16th
May 1875.]
S’emporter comme une soupe au lait = To fly into a passion
without warning; To be of a very hasty temper.
Trempé comme une soupe = Wet to the skin; Dripping wet.
C’est un marchand de soupe. (See Marchand.)
Sourd comme un pot = As deaf as a post.
*Vous faites la sourde oreille = None so deaf as those who will
not hear.
Frapper comme un sourd = To beat unmercifully.
Il court un bruit sourd = A rumour is being whispered.
Ils ont recours à des menées sourdes = They have recourse to
underhand dealings.
Il fait ses coups à la sourdine = He acts secretly, in an
underhand manner.
Cela me sourit assez = I rather like this.
[216]
*Souris qui n’a qu’un trou est bientôt prise = It is good to
have more than one string to one’s bow.
*On entendrait trotter une souris (or, voler une mouche) =
One could hear a pin drop.
Elle est éveillée comme une petite souris (or, comme une potée
de souris) = She is as brisk as a bee.
Autant que je puisse m’en souvenir = To the best of my
recollection.
C’est du plus loin qu’il me souvienne = 1. I can barely
remember it. 2. It is as far back as I can recollect.
Plus souvent! (fam.) = Not if I know it! Twice!
Casser du sucre sur la tête de quelqu’un (pop.) = To speak ill
of any one in his absence.
Cette maladie peut avoir des suites = That illness may have
serious consequences.
Il n’a pas d’esprit de suite = He is not consistent; He keeps
at nothing long.
Suite (of a serial story or article) = Continuation; Continued.
[Also: Suite et fin = Conclusion.
À suivre = To be continued.
La suite au prochain numéro = To be continued in our next.]
Être sujet à l’heure = To be tied to time.
Être sujet à caution = Not to be relied upon. (See Caution.)
C’est un mauvais sujet = He is a scamp, “a bad lot.”
[This is used in speaking of tiresome children, of flighty young
men, and of real rogues.]
Petit mauvais sujet! = Little rascal! (to children).
Être au supplice = To be on thorns.
Pour sûr! (fam.) = I should think so, indeed!
[217]
T.
Tenir table ouverte = To keep open house.
Faire table rase = To make a clean sweep and begin again; To
start everything afresh.
Jouer cartes sur table = To act frankly, above board.
Prendre à tâche = To make it one’s business.
Travailler à la tâche = To work by the piece.
Vilains taillables et corvéables à merci = Serfs taxable and
workable at their lord’s will and pleasure.
Il est de taille à se défendre = He is big enough to defend
himself.
“Ils nous ont fait une France à leur taille”
(Béranger) = They have brought France down to their
level.
Se tenant par la taille = With their arms round each other’s
waists.
Frapper d’estoc et de taille = 1. To cut and thrust. 2. To hit
right and left; To lay about one.
Il a l’esprit aux talons = He shines at the wrong end; He is
not witty.
La bande se dispersa, les talons aux épaules = The gang took to
their heels.
J’ai l’estomac dans les talons = I am very hungry.
On l’a mené tambour battant = They led him with a high hand;
They played the martinet with him.
Il sortirent tambour battant, mèche allumée = They went out
with all the honours of war.
Tous tant que nous sommes = Every one of us.
Être tant à tant = To be even (in a game).
[218]
Si cela vous ennuie tant soit peu, ne le faites pas = If that
is the least trouble, do not do it.
Elle n’est pas jolie, tant s’en faut = She is not pretty, far
from it; She is anything but good-looking.
Vous m’en direz tant = That alters the case; Ah! now I
understand. (See Dire.)
Est-ce qu’elle est belle?—Elle est comme il y en a tant = Is
she beautiful?—Nothing to stare at; Nothing out of the common.
Vous l’avez fait tant bien que mal = You did it in a casual
(off-hand) way.
Je l’ai fait tant bien que mal = I did it as well as I could,
though I know it is not well done.
Si tant est que .... = If it be true that....
Être sur le tapis = To be the subject of general conversation;
To be broached.
Amuser le tapis (or, la galerie) = To amuse people by talking
the time away.
Faire tapisserie (fam.) = To be a wall-flower at a ball.
*Mieux vaut tard que jamais = Better late than never.
[This is first found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (ix. 11): “It
is better beginning late doing our duties than never.”]
Il me tarde de parler = I am anxious to speak.
Il ne tardera pas à venir = It will not be long before he comes.
C’est sa tarte à la crème = It is his one constant objection.
[Molière, École des Femmes, i. 1.]
*Tel maître, tel valet = Like master, like man; Like well, like
bucket.
[“Selon le clerc est deu le maistre.”—Villon, Grand
Testament, 568.]
*Telle vie, telle fin = Men die as they live.
[219]
Je vous le rends tel quel = I return it to you just as it was
lent to me.
Je la prendrai telle quelle = I will take it just as it is.
Ce sont des gens tels quels (fam.) = They are “no great
shakes,” just ordinary people, humdrum people.
Tel est pris qui croyait prendre = It is a case of the biter
bit.
Monsieur un tel = Mr. So-and-so.
Il se donne du bon temps = He does not work too hard; He enjoys
himself; He has a good time of it.
Il prend le temps comme il vient = He takes things easily.
Cela a fait son temps = That has had its day.
*Du temps que Berthe filait = When the world was young; When
Adam delved and Eve span.
Si le temps le permet = Wind and weather permitting.
Le temps est à la pluie = It looks like rain.
Le temps perdu ne se répare (or, rattrape) pas = Time
wasted is gone indeed.
*Qui a temps a vie = While there is life, there is hope; Dum
spiro spero.
Par le temps qui court = Nowadays; As times go.
*Autres temps, autres mœurs = Manners change with the times.
Au temps! = As you were! (military command).
[This is sometimes incorrectly written “Autant,” but military
movements were formerly divided into temps. When the
drill-sergeant makes a mistake in giving the word of command, he
says, “Au temps pour moi” = “My mistake, as you were!”]
Il vaut mieux tendre la main que le cou = It is better to beg
than to steal.
[220]
L’arc toujours tendu se gâte = All work and no play makes Jack
a dull boy.
[“Neque semper arcum tendit Apollo.”—Horace, Carm, II.
x. 20.]
Tendresse maternelle
Toujours se renouvelle. |
} = { |
A mother’s truth
Keeps constant youth. |
[Archbishop Trench quotes the French and German forms as rhyming
equally well in both languages; the English, he confesses, is not
such a good translation. The German is:
Mutter treu’
Wird täglich neu.]
Il ne tint à rien qu’ils ne se battissent = They were within an
ace of fighting.
Quand on est bien, on ne s’y peut tenir = The love of change
makes us give up even a comfortable position.
Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l’auras = A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush.
[Also: Un bon aujourd’hui vaut mieux que deux demain.]
Il tient de son père = He takes after his father.
Il tient à ce livre = He treasures that book.
Je ne tiens plus à rien = I no longer care for anything.
Il ne tiendra pas à moi qu’il ne réussisse = It will not be my
fault if he does not succeed.
Je le tiens de bonne source = I have it on good authority.
Tenir le loup par les oreilles = To be in a critical situation,
dilemma.
On le tient à quatre = It needs four men to hold him down.
Je me suis tenu à quatre pour ne pas lui dire ses vérités = It
was almost more than I could do not to tell him what I thought of
him.
Il n’y a pas d’amitié qui tienne = Friendship has nothing to do
with the question; It must be done in spite of friendship.
[221]
Qu’à cela ne tienne = Do not let that be any objection; Never
mind that.
Je n’y tiens pas = I am not particular about it; I am not keen
on it.
Je n’y tiens plus = I cannot stand it any longer.
Je n’y ai pas tenu = I could not contain myself.
Je ne sais à quoi m’en tenir = I do not know what to believe.
Tenir comme teigne (pop.) = To stick like wax.
À quoi cela tient-il? = What is that owing to?
Il ne tient qu’à lui de commencer = It rests entirely with him
to begin; He can begin when he likes.
Cela lui tient au cœur = He is anxious about it.
Il n’a pas cédé, il a tenu bon = He did not give away, he stuck
to it.
Tenez-vous-le pour dit = Take it for granted; Bear that in mind.
Il en tient = 1. He is smitten. 2. He is caught.
Tenez-vous-en là = Stop there, go no further in the matter; Be
satisfied with what you have already obtained.
Tiens! c’est vous? = Hullo! is that you?
Tiens, tiens! = Indeed, you don’t say so!
*Il y a terme à tout = There is an end to everything.
[A German proverb says: “Everything has an end—a sausage two.”]
*Qui a terme ne doit rien = No one is obliged to pay before a
debt is due.
Le terme vaut l’argent = Time is money.
Ménagez un peu vos termes = Moderate your expressions a little;
Be a little careful in what you say.
[222]
En mathématiques il est sur son terrain = He is quite in his
element at mathematics.
Tâter le terrain = To feel one’s way (fig.).
Il sent le terroir = He is racy of the soil; He savours of his
country.
Il a la tête près du bonnet = He is hasty, hot-headed.
*Ce sont deux têtes dans un bonnet = They are hand and glove
together.
Cet homme y va tête baissée = That man rushes blindly into it;
That man sets to work energetically.
C’est un homme de tête = He has a head on his shoulders; He is
a man of resource.
Il s’est monté la tête = He got excited over fancied or
exaggerated wrongs.
C’est une tête carrée = He is an obstinate fellow.
J’en ai par-dessus la tête = 1. I am sick and tired of it. 2. I
am head over ears in it.
Je lui laverai la tête (pop.) = I will give it to him; I will
give him a sound drubbing.
Il ne sait où donner de la tête = He does not know which way to
turn.
[Donner here has the meaning of heurter, frapper de la tête.]
Donner de la tête contre le mur = To hit one’s head against a
stone wall.
La tête me tourne = I feel giddy; my head swims.
Il a mauvaise tête = He is a wrong-headed fellow.
Il fait à sa tête = He will have his own way.
Cet homme a mauvaise tête et bon cœur = That man is
quick-tempered, but kind-hearted.
Vous lui avez tenu tête = You did not give in to him.
Cet homme a de la tête = That man has his head screwed on the
right way.
[223]
Il ne faut pas dire vos affaires au tiers et au quart = You
must not tell your business to all the world, to everybody.
Le tiers et le quart = Tom, Dick, and Harry.
Il a le timbre fêlé (fam.) = He is cracked; He has a screw
loose.
Il se fera tirer l’oreille = He will require pressing.
Il tire le diable par la queue = He leads a struggling
existence.
Vous ne me tirerez pas les vers du nez = You will not pump me
(i.e. make me tell secrets).
Cet homme se tirerait d’un puits = That man would get out of
any difficulty, is full of resource.
Je me ferais tirer à quatre avant de parler = Wild horses would
not make me speak.
Il tire (touche) à sa fin = He is on his last legs.
Je saurai en tirer parti = I shall be able to turn it to
account.
*Tirez le rideau, la farce est jouée = Ring down the curtain,
the play is over.
[Words reported to have been said by Rabelais just before his
death.]
On m’a donné cela à titre gratuit (or, gracieux) = They gave
me that for nothing.
Cet or n’est pas au titre légal = This gold is not up to the
standard.
À ce titre (compte) j’y perds = At that rate I am a loser.
Crier par-dessus les toits = To proclaim from the housetops.
Je tombe d’accord avec vous sur ce point = I am at one with you
on that head.
Je tombe des nues = I am astounded.
[224]
Cet homme-là est bien tombé = That man has fallen on his feet;
That man has applied to the right person (or, ironic), to the
wrong person.
L’enfant tombe par terre, mais le fruit tombe à terre = A child
falls on the ground, while fruit falls to the earth.
[Par terre = from one’s own height; à terre = from any height.]
Je me tordais de rire (fam.) = I was splitting my sides (or,
convulsed) with laughter.
Vous vous êtes mis dans votre tort = You put yourself in the
wrong.
À tort ou à raison = Rightly or wrongly.
À tort et à travers = At random, thoughtlessly.
*Le plus tôt sera le mieux = The sooner, the better.
Elle a l’air de ne pas y toucher = She looks as if butter would
not melt in her mouth; She is very sarcastic without appearing to
mean anything. (Comp. Nitouche.)
C’est un touche-à-tout = He is a Jack of all trades; He meddles
with everything.
Cela touche à la folie = That is but one remove from madness;
That borders on lunacy.
Touchez-là = Here’s my hand on it.
Faire ses quinze (or, trente-six) tours = To do a hundred
useless things.
*À chacun son tour = Every dog has his day; Now it is my turn.
Elle est faite au tour (or, moule) = She has a splendid
figure.
Il fit cela en un tour de main = He did that in a moment.
Un tour de faveur = Permission to go (or, do anything) before
one’s turn.
Avoir le trac (fam.) = To be funky.
[225]
Mettre une affaire en train = To put a thing in hand.
Pas dans le train = Not up-to-date; Of an older school.
Il le mène bon train dans cette affaire = He drives him hard in
that matter.
Il nous a menés bon train = He brought us along at a great rate.
Allez toujours votre train = Go on as usual.
Il est en train d’écrire = He is in the act of writing; He is
just writing.
Je ne suis pas en train ce matin = I do not feel myself this
morning.
Il est en train (pop.) = He is slightly intoxicated.
Faire du train (pop.) = To kick up a dust.
Il mène grand train = He lives like a lord.
À fond de train = At full speed.
Ce que vous dites n’a pas trait à la question = What you say
has nothing to do with the question.
Ce sont là de vos traits = That is just like you.
Avaler d’un trait = To drink off at one gulp, at a draught.
Tout d’une traite = At a stretch, without stopping.
Il m’a traité de fat = He called me a fop.
Il m’a traité en roi = He treated me like a lord.
Il n’a pas dit un traître mot = He never spoke a single word.
Perdre la tramontane = Not to know which way to turn; To lose
one’s head.
[Literally, to lose one’s bearings. Tramontane is derived from the
Italian tramontana, and originally meant the pole-star, which
was the star seen from the Mediterranean across the mountains (the
Alps). Compare s’orienter. See Boule.]
[226]
Cet homme n’est pas très honnête, tranchons le mot, c’est un
coquin = That man is not very honourable, in plain English, he
is a rascal. (See Mot.)
Trancher la question, la difficulté = To cut the Gordian knot;
To solve the difficulty.
Trancher du grand seigneur = To try and play the lord.
Trancher dans le vif = (lit.) To cut to the quick; (fig.) To
set to work in earnest.
Il a l’esprit de travers = He has an awkward temper; He does
not see things as they are; He is cross-grained.
Il me regarda de travers = He looked black (askance) at me.
Il prend tout de travers = He takes everything amiss.
J’en sais le fonds et le tréfonds = I know the ins and outs of
it, the long and the short of it.
[Also: Je connais les tenants et aboutissants de l’affaire.]
Nous fûmes trempés jusqu’aux os = We were wet to the skin.
Être sur son trente-et-un (fam.) = To be dressed up to the
nines.
*Tricherie revient à son maître = Curses, like chickens, come
home to roost.
Les soldats de la Garde étaient tous triés sur le volet = The
soldiers of the Guard were all picked men.
[Volet is a gardener’s board on which he sorts seeds.]
C’est un triste sire = He is a despicable, dishonourable fellow.
Il n’y a pas à s’y tromper = There is no mistake about it.
[227]
Je ne sais trop = I don’t exactly know.
*Qui dit trop ne dit rien = He who wants to prove too much
proves nothing.
Faire un trou à la lune (fam.) = To shoot the moon; To fly from
one’s creditors.
C’est un trouble-fête = He is a mar-joy, a wet blanket.
Le voleur fuyait, mais nous étions à ses trousses = The thief
made off, but we were at his heels.
Cela se trouve bien = That is lucky.
Être à tu et à toi = To be on very familiar terms with.
Crier à tue-tête = To shout at the top of one’s voice.
U.
Ne faire ni une ni deux = To make no bones about it; To make up
one’s mind quickly.
C’est tout un = It is all the same.
L’union fait la force = United we stand, divided we fall.
Ce ne sont que des usines à bachot (pop.) = They are mere
cramming shops.
[Bachot = baccalauréat = matriculation. The French equivalent
for our B.A. is rather licencié-ès-lettres, although the
examinations in the two countries are so different that any
comparison is very difficult.]
V.
Parler français comme une vache espagnole = To talk horribly
bad French. (See Français.)
“Un homme qui n’a jamais mangé de la vache enragée n’est jamais
qu’une poule mouillée” (Mme. de Girardin) = A man who
has never roughed it is always a milksop.
[228]
C’est le grand chemin des vaches = That is the beaten track.
Le plancher des vaches (fam.) = Terra firma.
*“À vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire” = Where there
is no danger, there is no glory.
[Corneille, Cid, ii. 2. Compare: “Scit eum sine
gloria vinci qui sine periculo vincitur.”—Seneca, De
Providentia, iii.]
Il n’y a pas de grand homme pour son valet de chambre = No man
is a hero to his valet.
On ne prend pas de valet pour se servir soi-même = What! keep a
dog and bark thyself!
“Aux âmes bien nées
La valeur n’attend pas le nombre des années.”
Corneille, Cid, ii. 2.
= Really brave men show their valour when quite young.
Cela vaut fait = That is as good as done.
Vaut bien que mal = Vaille que vaille = At all events; For
better, for worse.
Il se fait trop valoir = He brags too much.
Je suis en veine de le faire = I am just in the humour to do it.
J’ai de la veine (pop.) = I am in luck.
Faire patte de velours = To speak smoothly; To draw in one’s
claws.
*Habit de velours, ventre de son = Silks and satins put out the
kitchen fire.
[Compare:
“Dress drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean.”
Cowper, Task, ii. 614.
An old French dicton says:
“Ne sois paon en ton parer,
Ny perroquet en ton parler,
Ny cicogne en ton manger,
Ny oye aussi en ton marcher.”]
[229]
*Chose qui plaît est à moitié vendue = Good wares make quick
market; Please the eye and fill the purse.
[“Chose qui plaist est à demy vendue.”—Charles
D’Orléans, Rondeau 194.]
*Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre = Everything comes to
the man who waits.
[The older form of the proverb omitted à; for qui = si on.]
C’est un beau venir y voir = A pretty sight indeed!
Où voulez-vous en venir? = What are you driving at? What is
your drift?
Il se vante d’en venir à bout = He says he is sure to succeed.
Il fait un vent à décorner (or, écorner) un bœuf = There
is a wind enough to blow one’s head off.
Autant en emporte le vent = That is but so much breath spent in
vain; It is not of the slightest consequence.
*Vent au visage rend un homme sage = Adversity makes a man
wise, not rich.
Celui qui sème le vent récolte la tempête = He who sows the
wind reaps the whirlwind; Those who live in glass houses should
not throw stones.
*Ventre affamé prend tout en gré =
“They that have no other meat,
Bread and butter are glad to eat.”
*Ventre affamé n’a point d’oreilles = A hungry man will not
listen to reason; A hungry man is an angry man.
Cela lui remet du cœur au ventre (fam.) = That gives him
courage again.
Savoir ce que quelqu’un a dans le ventre (fam.) = To know what
a person is worth, what he thinks; To know the stuff a man is
made of.
[230]
Il n’a pas trois mois dans le ventre (fam.) = He cannot live
three months.
Le cheval courait ventre à terre = The horse was running as
hard as he could tear.
Il était à plat ventre = He was flat on his face.
Nu comme un ver = Stark naked; As naked as when one was born.
*On dit souvent la vérité en riant = There is many a true word
spoken in jest.
Toute vérité n’est pas bonne à dire = All truths are not to be
spoken at all times.
La vérité comme l’huile vient au-dessus = Truth will out; It
takes a good many shovelfuls of earth to bury the Truth.
[The Spaniards say: La verdad es hija de Dios = Truth is the
daughter of God.]
C’est une vérité de Monsieur de la Palisse = It is an evident
truth.
[M. de la Palisse is the hero of a lengthy poem, one of the verses
of which runs as follows:
“M. de la Palisse est mort
Mort de maladie
Un quart d’heure avant sa mort
Il était encore en vie.”]
Il court comme un verrier déchargé = He runs like a
lamplighter. (See Chat.)
[Glaziers, when carrying glass, have to walk carefully and slowly.
When they have got rid of their load they make up for lost time.]
“Les plus beaux vers sont ceux qu’on ne peut pas
écrire.”—(Lamartine, Voyage en Orient) =
“Ah! the best prayers that faith may ever think
Are untranslatable by pen and ink.”
Bishop Alexander.
Vous ne le prendrez pas sans vert = You will not catch him
napping.
[An old game that used to be played in May was for two people to
undertake to be able always to show a green twig: failure to do so
lost the game.]
[231]
Une verte vieillesse = A hale old age.
Ils sont trop verts = The grapes are sour.
[La Fontaine, Le Renard et les Raisins, iii. 11.]
Mettre un cheval au vert = To send a horse to grass.
Il veut nous faire prendre des vessies pour des lanternes = He
wishes us to believe the moon is made of green cheese.
[“Me voulez vous faire entendant
De vecies que ce sont lanternes?”
Maistre Pierre Pathelin, 800.]
Faire vie qui dure = To live temperately; To husband one’s
resources.
Avoir la vie dure = 1. To have a hard time. 2. To have nine
lives.
Vieux comme les rues, comme le monde = As old as the hills.
C’est un homme de la vieille roche = He is a man of the old
school; he belongs to the good old stock.
Un vieux de la vieille = A veteran of the old Imperial Guard;
One of the old brigade.
Vieil ami et vieux vin sont vraiment deux bons vieux, mais vieux
écus sont encore mieux = Old friends and old wine are good, but
old gold is better than both.
[“Alonzo of Arragon was wont to say in commendation of Age, that
Age appeared to be best in four things: Old wood best to burn,
old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to
read.”—Bacon, Apophthegms, 101.]
Trancher (or, couper) dans le vif = (lit.) To cut to the
quick; (fig.) To set to work in earnest.
Ce reproche l’a piqué au vif = That reproach stung him to the
quick.
Il est vif comme la poudre = 1. He is quick-tempered. 2. He is
bustling, quick at work.
[232]
De vive voix = By word of mouth; Orally.
Ce sont des descriptions prises sur le vif = Those descriptions
are life-like.
Les paysans dans ce tableau sont pris sur le vif = The peasants
in that picture are life-like.
Il est dans les vignes du Seigneur = He is in his cups.
Du vin à faire danser les chèvres = Sour wine not fit to drink.
*À bon vin point d’enseigne = Good wine needs no bush.
[It was a Roman custom to hang out a branch of ivy at the doors of
taverns in honour of Bacchus. Branches of green stuff may still be
seen at the doors of wineshops along the Loire and in Burgundy.
Kelly traces the word “bosky” (i.e. drunk) to this bush.]
Être entre deux vins = To be half seas over (pop.).
*Le vin entre, la raison sort = When ale is in, wit is out.
On ne connaît pas le vin aux cercles = You can’t judge cigars
by the picture on the box.
Tremper son vin = To water one’s wine.
[Tremper = tempérer, not to wet, but to moderate.]
Vous mouillez trop votre vin = You are drowning the miller.
Cela est un peu violent = That is too bad.
Payer les violons = To pay the piper.
Je lui ai rompu en visière = I attacked (or, contradicted)
him openly.
[“Je n’y puis plus tenir, j’enrage; et mon dessein
Est de rompre en visière à tout le genre humain.”
Molière, Le Misanthrope, i. 1.
Literally the phrase means: to break one’s lance against the visor
of one’s enemy.]
Plus vite que ça (fam.) = Look sharp about it.
Je n’ai pas trouvé âme qui vive = I did not find a soul.
*Qui vivra verra = He who lives longest will see most; Time
will show (tell).
[233]
Monsieur vit de ses rentes = The gentleman is independent
(i.e. has an income of his own).
Apprendre à vivre = To learn manners.
Je lui apprendrai à vivre = I will teach him better manners (as
a threat).
Comme c’est vécu! = How true to life!
Ils en sont venus aux voies de fait = They came to blows.
Il est toujours par voies et par chemins = He is always on the
move, rambling.
Les affaires sont en voie de hausse = Things are looking up.
Être sur la voie = To be on the scent.
Je suis en voie de le finir = I am in a fair way to finish it.
Comme le voilà sale! = Just see how dirty he is!
Ne voilà-t-il pas qu’il est revenu = Who should come back but
he?
Voilà comme vous êtes = That is just like you.
Voilà comme je suis = You must take me as I am; That’s my way.
On n’y voit goutte = One can see nothing.
J’y vois trouble = I see dimly; My sight is dim.
Vous n’avez rien à y voir = That is no business of yours.
Au vu et au su de tout le village = Openly, before the whole
village.
Je vous vois venir = I see what you are driving at.
J’ai voulu voir par moi-même = I wish to see with my own eyes.
Il nous en a fait voir de toutes les couleurs = He told us all
sorts of tales; He worried us beyond all bearing.
[234]
Je n’ai pas voix au chapitre = (lit.) I have no right to speak;
(fig.) My opinion is not listened to.
Il a obtenu cela entre bond et volée = He obtained that at a
lucky moment.
À toute volée = At random; At full swing.
Il est de la haute volée = He is a tip-top swell, of the first
water, of the upper ten.
Voler (to fly)
On pouvait entendre voler une mouche = One could hear a pin
drop.
Voler (to steal)
*Il ne l’a pas volé = He richly deserves it.
*Quand les voleurs se battent, les larcins se découvrent = When
thieves fall out, honest men get their own.
*La bonne volonté est reputée pour le fait = The will is as
good as (is taken for) the deed.
Je serai des vôtres = I shall be one of your party; I shall be
on your side.
Vous avez fait des vôtres = You have committed follies
yourself; You have played pranks too.
Je ne sais à quel saint me vouer = I do not know which way to
turn.
*Vouloir c’est pouvoir = Where there’s a will there’s a way.
[Also: La volonté rend tout possible.
“Impossible est un mot que je ne dis jamais.”—Collin
d’Harleville, Malice pour Malice, i. 8.
Napoléon I., in a letter to Lemarois, 9th July 1813, wrote: “Ce
n’est pas possible, m’écrivez vous, cela n’est pas Français.”
“Mirabeau disait un jour à son secrétaire: ‘Impossible! ne
me dites jamais ce bête de mot.’”—Dumont, Vie de
Mirabeau, quoted in Carlyle’s French Revolution, vol. ii. p.
118.]
Que voulez-vous? = 1. What do you want? What can I do for you?
2. What was to be done? 3. What can you expect?
[235]
Vous l’avez voulu! = It is your own fault; You would have it.
[“Vous l’avez voulu, George Dandin!”
Molière, George Dandin, i. 9.]
On ne peut lui en vouloir = One cannot be angry with him, blame
him.
En veux-tu? en voilà! = As much as ever you like.
Il y en avait à bouche que veux-tu = There was an abundant
supply of it; There was plenty for every one.
Il sait ce que parler veut dire = He understands the hidden
meaning; He takes the hint.
Je le veux bien = With pleasure! I have no objection.
*“Le vrai peut quelquefois n’être pas vraisemblable” = Truth is
stranger than fiction.
[Boileau, Art Poétique, iii. 48.]
Z.
Surtout, messieurs, pas de zèle! = Above all, gentlemen, don’t
be too anxious! Don’t try to hurry things on.
[Words attributed to Talleyrand on receiving the staff of the
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.]
[236]
“Trop gratter cuit,
Trop parler nuit,
Trop manger n’est pas sage.
A barbon gris
Jeune souris:
L’Amour est de tout âge.
Enfants de Paris, quel temps fait-il?
Il pleut là-bas, il neige ici
Pendant la nuit
Tous chats sont gris.
Pour faire route sûre
Si l’amour va
Cahin-caha
Ménage ta monture.”
Charles Collé (1709-1783).
[238]
[239]
INDEX
INDEX OF ENGLISH PROVERBS
A
Absents always wrong, 2
Ace, within an, 220
Adam delved and Eve span, when, 123, 219
Adversity makes man wise, 229
Against the grain, 201
Akimbo, to put one’s arms, 17
Ale is in, wit is out, 232
All is not gold that glitters, 49
All men are not alike, 114
All’s well that ends well, 124, 172
All work and no play, 220
Almost and very nigh, 160
Ambush, 8
Among the blind, one-eyed is king, 44
And the rest! 170
Answer a fool according to his folly, 214
Appearances, for the sake of, 17
Appetite, good, 18
April fool, 191
Arm in arm, 47
As you make your bed, 41, 81
At first sight, 2
Average, on an, 15, 129
Awkward fix, to get out of an, 180
B
Background, to put in, 188
Back made for burden, 181
Bad day, bad night, 75
Bad thing never dies, 152
Bag and baggage, 106
Band-box, come out of a, 110
Bark worse than bite, 69
Bay, to be at, 2
Beak and claw, 173
Beat about the bush, to, 24, 33, 65, 193
Beat black and blue, 84, 99
Beat hollow, to, 86
Bedlam let loose, 207
Bee in one’s bonnet, 19
Beer, no small, of oneself, 167
Beggars cannot be choosers, 106
Beginning not everything, 74
Behind the scenes, 55
Bell the cat, to, 22, 137
Best cheapest in the end, 158
Best of friends must part, 75
Be the day short, 147
Better dry bread at home, 38
Better late than never, 218
Better the day, better the deed, 42, 148
Between devil and deep sea, 107
Between ourselves, 198
Between two stools, 63
B from a bull’s foot, not to know, 1
Bigwig, 43
Billingsgate, 140
Bird fouls its own nest, an ill, 169
Bird in hand, 220
Birds flown, to find the, 51, 169
Birds of a feather, 22, 140
Bird that catches the worm, 150, 203
Bird told me so, a little, 99
Bit by bit, 9
Biter bit, the, 139, 149
Black eyes, a couple of, 170
Blood from a stone, to get, 67
Blow brains out, 50, 58, 209
Blues, to have the, 169
Boat, to be in same, 108
Bone to pick, to have a, 154
Bore, 201
Born to be hanged, never drowned, 94
Borrowing sorrowing, 21
[240]Bow to circumstances, 32, 50
Boycott, to, 144
Boys will be boys, 147
Brand new, 33
Bread is buttered, which side, 176
Bred in the bone, what is, 54, 63
Broken reed, 19
Broom sweeps clean, a new, 30, 96
Bull by the horns, to seize the, 22
Burn candle at both ends, 60
Burnt child dreads the fire, 63
Business, to mind one’s own, 5
Business is business, 7
Butter would not melt in mouth, 169
Bygones be bygones, to let, 174, 198
C
Cake and eat it, to have one’s, 101, 112
Cake, to take the, 19, 104, 175
Candles away, all cats grey, 64
Cap a story, 203
Cap fits, wear it, if the, 134, 165
Carpenter known by chips, 172
Carry coals to Newcastle, 102
Cart before horse, to put the, 62
Cast in the teeth, to, 168
Castles in the air, 64
Cat after kind, 69
Cat and dog life, to lead a, 3
Catch it, to, 6, 28
Cat may look at a king, 69
Cat on hot bricks, 64
Cat’s away, mice will play, 64
Caught a Tartar, to have, 152
Chaff, to catch with, 17
Chalk and cheese, 147
Chalk it up, 66
Change not a clout, 28
Charity begins at home, 62
Chatterbox, a regular, 36, 166
Cheats never prosper, 4
Chip of the old block, 63, 124
Christmas comes but once a year, 121, 148
Civility costs nothing, 104, 179
Claw me, and I’ll claw thee, 181
Clean as a whistle, 196
Clean sweep, 217
Clear as noonday, 71
Clear as crystal, 207
Clockwork, like, 54
Cloud and a silver lining, 189
Clover, to be in, 78
Coach-and-four through Act of Parliament, 148
Coat does not make gentleman, 139
Cobbler stick to last, let, 161
Cock and bull story, 78
Cock of the walk, 78
Cold shoulder, 33
Come off cheap, 199
Come to blows, 233
Come to the point, 117, 181
Coming—like Christmas, 169
Comparisons are odious, 72
Confession good for soul, 26
Cost what it may, 86
Count chickens before hatched, 70, 76, 182
Cram, 43
Cramming-shop, 227
Creaking door hangs long, 47, 192
Cream of the army, 125
Crown his misfortune, to, 74, 156
Crumb and crust, 10
Cry out before hurt, 16
Cry over spilt milk, 115
Curses come home to roost, 20, 155
Cut coat according to cloth, 45
Cut ground under feet, 141
Cut long story short, 165
D
Daggers drawn, at, 86
Dance attendance to, 88, 138
Dark as pitch, 130
Dark side of picture, 159, 205
Daub yourself with honey, 48
Day after the fair, 167
Dead man, he is a, 6
Dead men’s shoes, 165
Dead men tell no tales, 37
Deaf as a post, as, 215
Death’s door, at, 22, 99
Devil and deep sea, between, 107, 158
Devil not so black as painted, 96
Devil’s own luck, 79
Devil was sick, 96
Diamond cut diamond, 63, 92, 125
Die in the gutter, 175
Die is cast, 213
Dine with Duke Humphrey, 73
[241]Dirt cheap, 3
Discretion better part of valour, 43
Disgorge ill-gotten gains, 136
Distance lends enchantment, 99
Do a thing yourself, 5
Dog at a wedding, 69
Dog bad name and hang, 68
Dog better than dead lion, a living, 90
Dog does not eat dog, 80, 153
Dog has his day, every, 224
Dog in manger, 69
Dog’s-ear a book, 80
Dog will learn no tricks, an old, 146
Done cannot be undone, 117
Doomsday, to wait till, 174
Door with creaking hinge, 120
Down in the mouth, 191
Down to the ground, 4
Do your duty, 95
Dover Court, 207
Draught, to be in a, 11
Draught, to drink at a, 225
Draw in one’s horns, to, 78
Dreams go by contraries, 213
Drink at one gulp, 225
Drink cup to dregs, 41
Drink like a fish, 40
Drop in the ocean, 136
Drop too much, to have a, 82
Dropping water wears away a stone, 103
Drowning man catches at a straw, 3
Drown the miller, 232
Ducks and drakes, to play, 145
Dull as ditchwater, 44, 133
E
Early to bed and early to rise, 23
Easier said than done, 39
East, west, home best, 68
Edged tools, to play with, 122
Edge off one’s appetite, to take, 111
Eel, as slippery as an, 16
Elbow one’s way, 66
Elbow-room, 81
End crowns all, 124, 172
End justifies the means, 42
End to everything, 46, 221
English, in plain, 221
Englishman’s house his castle, 61
Enough is as good as a feast, 78
Errors excepted, 75
Even money, 76
Ever drunk ever dry, 40
Everybody’s business, 16
Every dog has his day, 58
Every inch a republican, 88
Every Jack must have his Jill, 192
Every little helps, 170
Every man for himself, 58, 210
Everything comes man who waits, 23
Extempore, to speak, 2
Extremes meet, 113
Eye to main chance, 213
F
Face the music, 193
Face is her fortune, 27
Faint heart never won fair lady, 143
Fair and softly goes far, 12
Fair words butter no parsnips, 149
Fair words never did harm, 179
Fall between two stools, to, 59
Familiarity breeds contempt, 3
Far fetched, 13
Fault confessed, half redressed, 182
Feather one’s nest, to, 44, 126
Findings keepings, 195
Fine clothes do not fill stomach, 52
Fine feathers make fine birds, 35
Finishing stroke, 83
Finger in every pie, 168
First catch your hare, 182
First come, first served, 95, 194
First in the field, 95
Fish, flesh, nor fowl, 58
Fish in troubled waters, 102
Fish out of water, like a, 191
Fish to fry, other, 63
Fit to a T, 134
Fits and starts, to work by, 33, 43, 209
Fix, to be in a, 101, 185
Flash in the pan, 122
Flesh and blood, in, 58
Flesh creep, to make one’s, 58
Fool’s bolt is soon shot, a, 148
Fools have the best luck, 129
Foot foremost, to put one’s best, 186
Foot in it, to put one’s, 189
Forewarned, forearmed, 26
Fortune knocks once, 129
Fox to keep the geese, to set, 153
[242]Free and easy, 3, 135
French leave, to take, 123
Friend at court, 14
Friend in need is a friend indeed, 13, 37
Frying-pan into the fire, to fall from, 47, 64, 122
Fuel to the fire, to add, 146
Funky, to be, 224
G
Game not worth candle, 60
Gentlemanly, 11
Get blood from a stone, 144
Get out of bed the wrong side, 43
Gift-horse in the mouth, to look at, 49, 66
Gift of the gab, 149
Gild the pill, 187
Give any one the slip, 75
Give him an inch, 48
Give the devil his due, 95
Give twice who gives quickly, 99
Glass houses throw stones, 229
God helps those who help themselves, 9
God sends thread for begun web, 123
God tempers the wind, 48
Go halves, 76
Golden mean, 162
Good as done, 6, 23
Good as gold, as, 144
Good books, to be in one’s, 177
Good breeding always tells, 209
Good name better than riches, 57
Good wine needs no bush, 42, 232
Gordian knot, to cut, 226
Gospel, to take anything for, 21
Go to Jericho, 196
Grandmother to suck eggs, 18, 203
Grapes are sour, 231
Grasp all, lose all, 106
Great cry, little wool, 50
Great wits jump together, 111
Greek to him, it is, 11
Grey mare the better horse, 109, 192
Grist to the mill, 103
Grudge the food he eats, 76
Grudge, to have a, 28
Guilty conscience needs no accuser, 113, 199
H
Habit is second nature, 40
Hackneyed, 79
Hail-fellow-well-met, 75, 176
Hairs, to split, 9
Hale and hearty, 42
Half a loaf is better than no bread, 138, 182
Half in jest, half in earnest, 123
Half seas over, 232
Hall marked, 78
Hand and glove together, 44, 99, 116
Hands make light work, many, 9
Hand to hand, 80
Hand to mouth, to live from, 147
Hanged for a sheep as a lamb, 34, 69, 134
Happen what may, 4, 133
Hard up, 21, 210
Harm watch, harm catch, 155
Harp on same string, 60, 107
Haste makes waste, 141
Haul over the coals, 211
Hawk from handsaw, not to know, 178
Heads or tails, 113
Hear both sides, 71
Helping hand, to give a, 84, 154
Helve after hatchet, 19
He who will not when he may, 202
Hiding, to give a good, 3
High winds blow on high hills, 137
Hint, to take a, 108
Hit the mark, 122
Hit with a vengeance, 154
Holloa before out of wood, 69
Home, no place like, 68, 172
Home, to make oneself at, 3
Honest man’s word, 143, 179
Honesty is the best policy, 126
Honour among thieves, 153
Honour to whom honour is due, 59, 211
Hook or crook, 43
Hooligan, 17
Hope, the last, 188
Horse of another colour, 25, 156
Horse to grass, to send a, 231
Horse, to ride the high, 66
Host, to reckon without, 76, 143
House nor home, 121
H’s, to drop one’s, 89
[243]Hue and cry, 78
Hunger is the best sauce, 18
Hunger tames the lion, 115
Hungry as a hunter, 111
Hungry man is an angry man, 7
Hurry the less speed, the more, 50
I
Idle brain the devil’s workshop, 123
If wishes were horses, 212, 215
Ill bird fouls its own nest, 169
Ill-licked cub, 174
Ill news flies fast, 18
Ill weeds grow apace, 141
Ill wind blows no one good, 42, 156
Image of his mother, the very, 87, 107
Improve upon acquaintance, to, 77
Indian file, 199
In for a penny, in for a pound, 34, 40
Ins and outs, to know, 129, 226
In vino veritas, 40
Irishman’s gun, 86
Irons in fire, too many, 63, 151
J
Jack has his Jill, every, 192
Jack of all trades, 196, 224
Jerry-built house, 55
Joke, to be beyond a, 146, 200
Joker, a dry, 207
Judge by appearances, 163
Justice no respecter of persons, 148
K
Keep a dog and bark thyself, 228
Keep open house, 217
Keep the ball rolling, 139
Keep the pot boiling, 158
Key of the street, 59
Kick the bucket, 187
Kill by inches, to, 121
Killed on the spot, 55
Kill two birds, to, 82, 187
Know from Adam, not to, 77
Know, in the, 55
Knowledge is power, 210
Know nothing, doubt nothing, 210
Knuckle under, to, 215
L
Lady, a great, 89
Last straw breaks camel’s back, 46, 103
Laugh best who laugh last, 206
Laugh in forced manner, 46
Laughing-stock, 207
Laugh in one’s sleeve, 31, 53
Laugh on wrong side of face, 207
Laugh to-day, cry to-morrow, 206
Lazy people take most pains, 178
Least said soonest mended, 179
Leave no stone unturned, 71, 106
Leave well alone, 38, 162
Leave without beat of drum, 92
Legal tender, 86
Let cat out of the bag, 159
Let sleeping dogs lie, 64
Let those laugh who win, 206
Lie unblushingly, 21
Life and soul of party, 47
Life in the old dog yet, 43
Light as air, 106
Lightly come, lightly go, 126
Like as two peas, as, 102
Like master, like man, 155, 218
Like sire, like son, 69, 209
Like will to like, 58
Lion had need of the mouse, 129
Lion’s mouth, to rush into, 153
Little fellows are often great wits, 209
Little pitchers have long ears, 64
Little pot soon hot, 185
Little rain lays much dust, 1
Little strokes fell great oaks, 184
Loan loses self and friend, 13
Lock stable door, 105
Long lane without turning, 176
Long looked for comes at last, 169
Look before you leap, 124
Look gift-horse in mouth, 49, 66
Look sharp about it! 232
Lose nothing for want of asking, 206
[244]Lose one’s head, 45
Lot of good that will do, 145
Love dies hard, true, 10
Love laughs at locksmiths, 14
Love me, love my dog, 10
Lurch, to leave in the, 188
M
Mackerel sky, 120
Mad as a March hare, 59, 85
Make a cat laugh, 187
Make best of bad job, 42, 129, 146
Make hay while sun shines, 30
Make mouth water, 103
Man in the street, 194
Man proposes, 142
Manners change, 25
Many a little makes a mickle, 136, 154, 184, 208
Many a true word spoken in jest, 230
March winds and April showers, 158
Mare better horse, the grey, 109, 192
Mare’s nest, to find a, 185
Marines, to tell to, 25
Mar-joy, 227
Match for a person, no, 67
Matter of course, 12
Measure other’s peck, 23
Men die as they live, 218
Mess, to get into a, 25, 101, 185
Mess, to make a pretty, 6
Might is right, 127, 129
Milk and honey, flowing with, 72
Milksop, 227
Mince matters, not to, 65, 166
Mincemeat of, to make, 139
Miserly father, spendthrift son, 26
Misfortunes never come singly, 21, 156
Miss the mark, 81
Money makes money, 103
Money, to be made of, 20
Money, ready, 20
Moon made of green cheese, 149
More frightened than hurt, 185
More haste, less speed, 50, 65, 141, 195
More the merrier, the, 130
Mountain out of molehill, 166, 171
Move on, 71
Mow what you sow, 176
Much ado about nothing, 35
Much coin, much care, 138
Much would have more, 16, 189
Murder king’s English, to, 214
N
Nail right on head, to hit, 99, 107
Narrow shave, 35
Nearer church, 105, 161
Necessity, mother of invention, 176
Needle in bundle of hay, 9
Nice goings on, 34
Nick of time, to come in, 21, 54, 190
Nine days’ wonder, 7
No admittance, 92
Noble to ninepence, to bring, 214
No danger, no glory, 228
No fear of that, 90
No living man all things can, 144
Nod is as good as wink to blind horse, 57
None so deaf, 109, 215
No pay, no piper, 20
No sooner said than done, 23
Not at home, 111
Nothing ask, nothing have, 143
Nothing for nothing, 205
Nothing succeeds like success, 184
Nothing like leather, 174
Nothing new, that is, 77
Nothing venture, nothing win, 206
No thoroughfare, 181
No use my talking, 28, 35
Not in my line, 204
Not up to date, 225
Now or never, 55
O
Oath, to take the, 195
Ogre, to eat like an, 157
Old as the hills, 163, 191, 231
Old birds not caught with chaff, 161
Old dog will learn no tricks, 146
Old-fashioned, quite, 146
Old maid, 74
Old wives’ tales, 78
Once and for all, 42, 58
Once bit, twice shy, 63, 201
Once in a blue moon, 163
[245]One door shuts, another opens, 184
One good turn deserves another, 62, 146
One man can take horse to water, 213
One man may steal a horse, 166
One man’s meat, 170
One scabby sheep, 134
One swallow does not make a summer, 86
Only this once, 86
Open confession good for soul, 26
Opportunity makes the thief, 150
Out-Herod Herod, 208
Out of debt, out of danger, 95
Out of print, 110
Out of sight, out of mind, 73
Out of sorts, 22, 210
Out of the frying-pan, 47
Out of world as out of fashion, 130
Over head and ears, 87
P
P’s and Q’s, to mind one’s, 38
Pack becomes small pedlar, a small, 185
Pay back in own coin, to, 164
Pay, no piper, no, 20
Pay the piper, to, 182
Pay with promises, 212
Pearls before swine, to cast, 184
Penniless, to be, 46, 96
Penny saved is a penny earned, 104, 133
Penny wise and pound foolish, 46, 60
Peril proves who dearly loves, 10
Pet aversion, 37
Pickle, to be in a pretty, 35, 101
Pigeon-holed, to be, 55
Pig in a poke, to buy a, 3
Pin a day, groat a year, 110
Pinch of salt, 36
Pin drop, to hear a, 216
Pins and needles, to be on, 215
Piper, to pay the, 182, 232
Pitch and toss, 187
Pitch, to touch, 38
Pitcher that often goes to the well, 18
Plain as a pikestaff, 71
Plain English, in, 131, 165
Play the prude, 190
Please the eye, fill the purse, 229
Plenty makes dainty, 215
Poaches on my preserves, 49
Pocket an insult, to, 8
Point-blank, 46, 50
Point, not to the, 8, 117
Point, to come to the, 117, 181
Poor as a church mouse, 105
Possession nine points of law, 192
Pot calls kettle black, 131, 183
Pot-luck, 129
Pot soon hot, a little, 185
Poverty in at door love out at window, 126
Poverty is no crime, 181
Practice makes perfect, 115, 128
Practise what one preaches, to, 113
Precepts lead, 113
Precious near it, 118
Precious pair, a, 87
Prefer advice to praise, 78
Prettiness makes no pottage, 35
Prig, 192
Promises are like pie-crust, 39
Proud as a peacock, 122
Put shoulder to wheel, 172
Q
Quarrel about nothing, to, 11
Queen Anne is dead, 191
Queer fish, 80, 102
Quite between ourselves, 98
R
Racket, to stand the, 56, 193
Rage, to be the, 21, 133
Rap, not worth a, 121
Reach-me-down, a, 91
Receiver as bad as thief, 24, 208
Red at night the shepherd’s delight, 39
Red-handed, 92
Reed, to trust to a broken, 19
Refuse point-blank, 168
Regular as clockwork, 167, 202
Repent at leisure, 203
Return of post, 85
Return to our subject, 167
[246]Riches, a good name better than, 203
Ride rough-shod over, 186
Ring down the curtain, 223
Rob a church, he would, 24
Rob Peter to pay Paul, 91
Rod in pickle, to keep a, 134
Roland for an Oliver, 63, 195
Rolling stone gathers no moss, 187
Rome was not built in a day, 20, 117
Room for improvement, 94
Room to swing a cat in, not, 154
Rose has its thorn, every, 207
Rough tools for rough work, 135
Rough with smooth, to take, 36
Rough with the smooth, to take, 138
Routine, return to old, 74
Row in same boat, 85
Rub, there’s the, 97, 135, 151
Rule men with rod of iron, 29
Rule of thumb, 168
Ruling passion strong in death, 8
Run for your lives, 210
Run headlong into trap, 30
Run with hare and hunt with hounds, 67, 103
S
Sack, to give any one the, 30
Safe bind, safe find, 160
Saintly look, to put on a, 17
Saint Swithin’s Day, 159
Salt, not worth his, 176
Salt on bird’s tail, to put, 211
Same old story, 203
Satan finds mischief still, 173
Save appearances, to, 92
Sea-legs, to have one’s, 186
Secret, an open, 191
Secret of two, 211
See stars, to, 59, 111
Self-praise no recommendation, 152
Sell like wildfire, 108
Send about one’s business, 109
Serves you right, it, 23, 38, 117, 176
Set a beggar on horseback, 174
Set a thief to catch a thief, 80
Set fox to keep geese, 153
Seven-league boots, 180
Shakes, no great, 219
Shanks’ nag, 97
Sharp as a needle, as, 13
Sheep, the black, 49
Shelf, to be put on the, 201
Shilly-shallying, 65
Shine at wrong end, to, 217
Shirk work, never, 74
Shoe lost for want of nail, 16
Shoemaker’s wife the worst shod, 65
Shoe pinches, where the, 32
Shoot the moon, 71, 153, 227
Short life and merry, 19, 42
Short reckonings make long friends, 42
Shoulder, the cold, 33
Show the white feather, 53
Sick and tired of anything, 101
Silence gives consent, 78, 165
Silent sow sucks wash, 48
Silk purse out of sow’s ear, 51
Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire, 228
Silver spoon in one’s mouth, 74
Sin, as ugly as, 182
Six of one and half-a-dozen of another, 43
Sixes and sevens, 1, 90
Skeleton in the cupboard, 79
Skin a flint, to, 144
Sleep like a top, to, 100
Sleep upon it, to, 77
Slippery as an eel, 16
Slow and sure wins the race, 12, 65
Sly dog, 75, 125, 166
Small parcels, fine wares, 173, 209
Smart for it, 89
Smell of the lamp, 143
Smoke, to end in, 2
Smoke without fire, no, 132
Snake in the grass, 17
So many men, 24
So much to the good, 194
Song, to buy for a mere, 3
Sooner the better, 224
So-so, 74
Sowing wild oats, 136
Sow by wrong ear, 152
Spade a spade, to call a, 18, 63
Spare the rod, spoil the child, 10
Speak ill in absence, 216
Speak of angels, 152
Speech silvern, silence golden, 179
Split difference, to, 190
Split hairs, 85
Split sides with laughter, 44
Spoil ship for ha’porth of tar, 60
Spoke in wheel, to put, 33
Sprat to catch a herring, 122, 171
[247]Stand the racket, 56
Stake, your life is at, 8, 12
Stale news, 191
Stare in the face, to, 87, 171
Stick no bills, 7, 91
Stick, to get hold of wrong end of, 16
Still tongue, wise head, 210
Still waters run deep, 102
Sting is in the tail, 199
Stirrup-cup, 112
Stitch in time saves nine, 190
Stolen joys are sweet, 18, 176
Stone unturned, to leave no, 106
Store is no sore, 2
Strain at a gnat, 59
Strain every nerve, to, 122, 209
Straw breaks camel’s back, the last, 46
Straw, not to care a, 15, 171
Stretch one’s legs, 92
Strike while iron is hot, 121
String to bow, more than one, 201, 216
Struck all of a heap, 121
Stuck pigs, to look like, 69
Stuff and nonsense, all, 29, 142
Style man himself, 142
Success justifies the means, 124
Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, 147
Sunday-best, 107
Sweep, to make a clean, 217
T
Tail between legs, 32
Take after a person, to, 11
Take care of the pence, 104
Take it or leave it, 149, 158
Take law into own hands, 200
Take the wall, 181
Take time by forelock, 30, 67
Take a wise man to be a fool, 130
Tale never loses in telling, 152
Talking to the air, 61
Tastes differ, 136
Tell that to the marines, 25
Tender-handed stroke a nettle, 172
Tether, to be at end of, 79
Thames on fire, to set the, 193
That crowns all, 157
That’s the way of the world, 156
There is many a slip, 84
Thick as thieves, 150
Things, where are my, 5
Thorns, to be on, 51
Those who lose pay, 34
Threats light as air, 106
Time is money, 221
Tip the porter, 158
Tip-top, 234
Tit-bit, 45
Tit for tat, 63
Tom, Dick, and Harry, 223
Too many cooks spoil broth, 209
Too much of a good thing, 146
Topsy-turvy, 94, 211
Travellers tell fine tales, 160
Trespassers will be prosecuted, 92
Tricks, to be at one’s old, 116
Truth stranger than fiction, 234
Truth will out, 147, 230
Turn in all standing, 81
Turn over new leaf, 182
Turn to play, 27
Two can play at that game, 146
Two heads better than one, 26
Two of a trade, 163
Two’s company, 95
U
Up to date, 124
Up to-day, down to-morrow, 58
V
Vengeance, to rain with a, 18
Verbum sap., 26, 108, 165
Very man, the, 118
W
Watched pot never boils, 94
Water off duck’s back, 89
Water one’s wine, to, 232
Weakest go to the wall, 34
Week of Sundays, 211
Well begun is half done, 75
Well, I never! 192
Wet blanket, 147
Wet to the skin, 215
What a to-do, 6
What cannot be cured, 82
What is done cannot be undone, 203
[248]What is one man’s meat, 170
When at Rome do as Rome does, 152
When Greeks joined Greeks, 125
When in doubt, 101
When thieves fall out, 234
When world was young, 219
Where there’s a will, 124, 234
While there’s life, 219
Whip-hand, 32, 47
Whistling woman, 120
White elephant, 105
Wholesale and retail, 138
Whole show, 47
Who lives longest sees most, 232
Wild horses would not make him speak, 223
Wilful waste makes woeful want, 93
Will is as good as deed, 145, 234
Willy-nilly, 137
Wind and weather permitting, 219
Wishes were horses, if, 212, 215
Wish is father to thought, 88
Woman’s instinct, 120
Word to the wise, a, 26, 108, 209
Work like a nigger, 198
Workman blames tools, a bad, 175
Worst come to worst, 12
Worst wheel makes most noise, 50
Worth his weight in gold, 184
Worth a brass farthing, not, 92
Wrong end of stick, 16
Y
Yellow as a guinea, 145
THE END
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
Edinburgh & London
[249]
DESHUMBERT’S DICTIONARY OF DIFFICULTIES
Met with in Reading, Writing, Translating, and Speaking
French.
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UNDER THE GENERAL EDITORSHIP OF
De V. PAYEN-PAYNE,
Principal of Kensington Coaching College, and Author of “French
Idioms and Proverbs.”
1. ALEXANDRE DUMAS: JACOMO. Edited by F. W. Walton,
M.A., Librarian of King’s College, London.
2. ANTOINE GALLAND: SINDBAD LE MARIN. Edited by Charles
Penney, B.A., Principal of Kensington Coaching College.
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London School.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Square brackets and punctuation, apparently missed in printing, were added.
As the material was drawn from many sources, of many ages, no changes were made to accents, grammar, hyphens or spelling except:
- “Sa faire la barbe” was changed to “Se faire la barbe” on page 31.
- “loche” was changed to “cloche” on page 121.
- “povery” was changed to “poverty” in the index on page 245.
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