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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 ***
Produced by Marcia Brooks, Hugo Voisard and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
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.”]
“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.”
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.
Expressions to which an Asterisk is prefixed are Proverbs.
A.
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.]
Abandon
Tout est à l’abandon = Everything is at sixes and sevens, in
utter neglect, in confusion.
[Also: Tout va à la dérive.]
Abattre
*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.]
Abattre de l’ouvrage = To get through a great deal of work.
Aboi
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
*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.
Abonder
Il abonde dans mon sens = He is entirely of the same opinion as
I am; He has come round to my opinion.
Abord
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.
Aboutir
Les pourparlers n’ont pas abouti = The preliminary negotiations
led to nothing.
Absent
*“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.]
Absurde
L’homme absurde est celui qui ne change jamais = The wise man
changes his opinion—the fool never.
[Barthélemy, Palinode. 1832.]
Accommodement
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.]
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.
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.]
Affamer
*Ventre affamé n’a point d’oreilles = A hungry man will not
listen to reason.
[La Fontaine, Fables, ix. 18.]
Afficher
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.]
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.
Affût
Être à l’affût = To be watching for a favourable opportunity;
To be on the look-out. (See Aguets.)
Âge
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.
Agir
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.
Agiter
Qui s’agite s’enrichit = If you wish to get rich, you must work
(hustle); No pains, no gains.
Agonie
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.]
Aguets
Il est aux aguets = He is on the watch; He is in ambush. (See
Affût.)
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.
Aimer
*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.]
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.
Algèbre
C’est de l’algèbre pour lui = It is Greek to him.
[“C’est de l’hébreu pour moi.”—Molière, L’Étourdi,
iii. 3.]
Allemand
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.]
*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.
Le rouge va bien aux brunes = Red suits dark women well.
Allons! = Come, now!
Allons donc! = You are joking.
Allumer
“Il n’est bois si vert qui ne s’allume” (Clément
Marot) = There is nothing so difficult that cannot be done
in time.
Alors
Alors comme alors = Wait till that happens, and then we will
see what is to be done.
Ambre
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.]
Amener
Cette preuve est amenée de bien loin = That proof is very
far-fetched.
Ami
*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.]
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.
Amitié
Faites mes amitiés à votre frère = Remember me kindly to your
brother.
Amour
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.]
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
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.
An
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.
Âne
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.]
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.]
Ange
Être aux anges = To be delighted, in raptures, in the seventh
heaven.
Un ange bouffi = A chubby child.
Anguille
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.]
Il y a quelque anguille sous roche = There is a snake in the
grass; I can smell a rat.
[Lat. Latet anguis in herba.]
Anonyme
Société anonyme = Limited Liability Company (because the names
of the shareholders are unknown to the public).
Anse
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.]
Antan
“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.”]
Apache
C’est un apache (pop.) = He is a hooligan.
Apothicaire
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.]
Apôtre
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.]
Apparence
Pour sauver les apparences = For the sake of appearances.
Selon toute apparence = In all probability.
Appartenir
A tous ceux qu’il appartiendra (legal) = To all whom it may
concern.
Appât
*C’est un trop vieux poisson pour mordre à l’appât = He is too
old a bird to be caught with chaff.
*Apprenti n’est pas maître = One must not expect from a
beginner the talent of an old hand; You must spoil before you
spin.
Appui
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.]
Appuyer
Vous vous appuyez sur un roseau = You are trusting to a broken
reed.
Après
*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.]
Araignée
Avoir une araignée dans le (or, au) plafond = To have a bee
in one’s bonnet.
Arbre
*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.]
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.
Arc
Débander l’arc ne guérit pas la plaie = To cease doing mischief
does not undo the harm one has done.
Arçon
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.
Argent
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.]
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.
Avaler
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.
Avancer
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).
Avant
Vous allez trop avant = You are going too far.
Ils sont arrivés bien avant dans la nuit = They arrived very
late at night.
*A père avare, enfant prodigue = A miserly father has a
spendthrift son.
[“A femme avare, galant escroc.” La Fontaine, Contes,ii.]
Avec
Avec ça! (colloquial) = Nonsense!
Averti
*Un bon averti (or, prévenu) en vaut deux = A man well
warned is twice a man; Forewarned, forearmed.
Aveu
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.
Aveugle
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.]
Avis
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.
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.
Avoir
[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.
Être marqué au b = To be either hump-backed, one-eyed, lame, or
a stutterer.
[i.e. bossu, borgne, boiteux, ou bègue.]
Bâcler
Bâcler son ouvrage = To do one’s work quickly and badly; To
“polish off” (or, scamp) one’s work.
[Also: travailler à dépêche-compagnon.]
Badiner
*“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.]
Bagage
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.
Bagatelle
Bagatelles que tout cela = That is all stuff and nonsense.
Vive la bagatelle! = Away with care!
Bague
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.]
Baguette
Mener les gens à la baguette = To rule men with a rod of iron;
To be a martinet.
Baiser
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
Baisser l’oreille = To look confused (or, sheepish.)
[From the action of dogs when expecting a beating.]
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.
Balai
*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.
Balance
Faire pencher la balance = To turn the scale.
Balancer
Il n’y a pas à balancer = We must not hesitate, but act.
Balle
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.
“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.]
Ballon
Il lança un ballon d’essai avant de produire son grand ouvrage
= He sent out a feeler before publishing his great work.
Ban
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.]
Bande
Faire bande à part = Not to mix with other people.
[In Parliamentary parlance, “to form a cave” (of Adullam).]
Banquette
Jouer devant les banquettes = (of actors) To play to empty
benches.
Barbe
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.
Barre
Vous arrivez trop tard, la barre est tirée = You are too late,
the line is drawn, the list is closed.
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.]
Bas
*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.
Bât
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.”]
Bataillon
Inconnu au bataillon (fam.) = I don’t know him; No one knows
him.
Bataille
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.
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.]
Bâton
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.
Battre
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.
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.)
Baume
Je n’ai pas foi dans son baume = I have no faith in his plan.
Bavette
Quand les femmes sont ensemble, elles taillent des bavettes
à n’en plus finir = When women get together they indulge in
endless gossip.
Beau
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.
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
*Beaucoup de bruit pour rien = Much ado about nothing.
Beauté
La beauté ne se mange pas en salade = Beauty does not fill the
larder; Prettiness makes no pottage.
Bec
Il m’a tenu le bec dans l’eau = He kept me in suspense.
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.”]
Bécasse
C’est une bécasse = She is a goose.
Bêcher
Bêcher quelqu’un (fam.) = To pick a person to pieces.
Bénéfice
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.
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.
Bien
*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.
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.)
Bientôt
Cela est bientôt dit = That is easier said than done.
Bile
Ne pas se faire de bile (fam.) = To take things easily.
Billet
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.]
Blanc
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.
Blé
Manger son blé en herbe = To anticipate one’s revenue.
J’en suis tout bleu (fam.) = Well! I am surprised.
Bloc
En bloc = In the mass, in the lump.
Boire
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).
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.]
Bois
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.
Boiteux
Il ne faut pas clocher devant les boiteux = One must not remind
people of their infirmities. (See Corde.)
Bombarder
Il vient d’être bombardé membre de ce club = He has just been
pitchforked into that club (over the heads of more deserving
people).
Bon
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.)
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?
Bond
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.
Bonheur
Au petit bonheur! = I will chance it!
Par bonheur = As luck would have it.
Bonhomme
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.]
Boniment
Faiseur de boniment (pop.) = A cheap-jack, clap-trap speaker.
[Bonir = to talk like clowns at a fair.]
Bonjour
C’est simple comme bonjour = It is as easy as kiss your hand.
Bonnet
*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.
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.
Bout
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.
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.
Brebis
*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.
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.]
Bredouille
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.
Bride
*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.
Briller
*Tout ce qui brille (or, reluit) n’est pas or = All is not
gold that glitters.
Brin
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.
Brisée
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.]
Briser
Brisons là! = Let us have no more of that; That will do.
Brochette
Être à la brochette = 1. To be brought up by hand (of a bird).
2. To be brought up tenderly, with too much care.
Je crois que vous brodez = (fig.) I think you are exaggerating,
romancing.
Il brode bien = He is good at drawing the long bow.
Brouillard
Établir une rente sur les brouillards de la Seine = To have an
income in the clouds (i.e. nothing).
Brouiller
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.).
Brouter
*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.
Bruit
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.
Brûler
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).
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.
Buisson
*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.
Buse
*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.]
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?]
Cabinet
Cet avocat a un bon cabinet = That barrister has a good
practice.
Cachet
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.]
Cadet
C’est le cadet de mes soucis = That is the least of my cares;
That is the last thing I worry about.
Cadran
Il a fait le tour du cadran = 1. He has slept the clock round.
2. He has worked for twelve hours at a stretch.
Cage
*La belle cage ne nourrit pas l’oiseau = Fine clothes do not
fill the stomach.
Caisse
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?
Cale
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.]
Campagne
En rase (or, pleine) campagne = In the open country.
Se mettre en campagne = (lit., of a general) To take the field;
(fig.) To canvass or look out for a post; To start working.
Camus
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.”
Canard
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.]
Cane
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.]
Capable
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.
Cape
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).
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.]
Carte
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.
Carton
Rester dans les cartons = To be pigeon-holed.
Des objets de carton = (fig.) Gimcrack things.
Cas
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.
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.]
Casser
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.
C’est comme un cataplasme sur une jambe de bois = A nod is as
good as a wink to a blind horse.
Catholique
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).
Cause
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.
Caution
Il est sujet à caution = He is not to be relied upon.
[Caution, meaning “bail,” implies that he cannot be trusted
except on bail.]
Ce
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!
Ceinture
*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.]
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?
Cent
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.
Cervelle
Le scélérat se brûla la cervelle = The scoundrel blew his
brains out.
[Also, more pop., “se faire sauter le caisson.”]
Chacun
*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.”]
Chair
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.
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.
Change
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
Changer son cheval borgne contre un aveugle = To lose in an
exchange.
Chanson
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.
Chanter
*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.
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.
Chapeau
Voici la reine, chapeau bas! = Here is the Queen, hats off.
Chapelet
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.
Chapon
*Qui chapon mange, chapon lui vient = He that has plenty shall
have more.
Charbonnier
*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.’
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).]
Charge
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
*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!
Charlemagne
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.]
Charrette
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.
Chasser
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.
Chat
*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.
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.)
Château
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.]
Chaud
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.
Chaudron
*Petit chaudron, grandes oreilles = Little pitchers have long
ears.
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.
Chausser
Les cordonniers sont les plus mal chaussés = The shoemaker’s
wife goes the worst shod.
Chauve
Chauve comme mon genou (fam.) = As bald as a coot, as a
billiard ball.
Chef
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
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.
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.
Chevalier
Un chevalier d’industrie = A swindler, a man who lives by his
wits.
Cheveux
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.)
Cheville
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.
Chèvre
*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.
*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.]
Chien
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’estCEchien 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.]
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.
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.
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.
Commode
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.
Compagnie
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.
Compagnon
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.
Compas
Avoir le compas dans l’œil (fam.) = To have a good eye for
distances.
Compère
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.]
Compliment
Sans compliment = Really; sincerely; I mean really what I say.
Compte
Voici votre argent, voyez si vous avez votre compte = Here is
your money, see if it is right.
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.)
Compter
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.)
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.
Cordeau
Aux États-Unis les rues sont tirées au cordeau = In the United
States the streets are perfectly straight.
Cordon
Cordon, s’il vous plaît = Open the door, please (to porters in
Paris).
Ne faites pas de cornes à ce livre = Do not dog’s-ear that book.
Corneilles
Bayer aux corneilles = To stare (or, gape) about vacantly.
Corps
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.
Corsaire
*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.]
Corvée
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.]
Côte
On lui compterait les côtes = He is nothing but skin and bone.
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.
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.]
Coupe
*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.
Couper
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.
Faire du cuir d’autrui large courroie = To be generous with
other people’s money.
Cours
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.
Court
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).
Couteau
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).
Coûter
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.
Coutume
*Une fois n’est pas coutume = It is only this once; One swallow
does not make a summer; Once does not count.
Coutumier
Il est coutumier du fait = It is not the first time he has done
it.
Couture
Ils étaient battus à plate couture = They were beaten hollow.
Couvercle digne du chaudron = The lid matches the caldron; They
are a precious pair; Arcades ambo.
Couvert
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.
Cracher
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.
Crémaillère
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.”]
Crever
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).
Cri
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.
Cribler
Criblé de mitraille = Riddled with grape-shot.
Criblé de dettes = Over head and ears in debt.
Crier
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.
Un républicain à tous crins = Every inch a republican.
[Properly of a horse with flowing mane and tail, hence thorough,
strong.]
Crochet
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.
Croire
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.]
Croix
Aller au devant de quelqu’un avec la croix et la bannière =
To receive any one with great fuss and ceremony (often used
ironically).
Croquer
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.]
Cru
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 une vraie cruche (fam.) = She is a silly goose.
Cuir
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.]
Cuirasse
Les observations glissent sur lui comme sur une cuirasse =
Blame slips off him as water off a duck’s back.
Cuire
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.
Culbute
*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
Cuver son vin = To sleep oneself sober.
D.
Dame
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
Damer le pion à quelqu’un = To outwit some one.
[From the game of draughts, dame = a king, pion = a man.]
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.]
Danger
Il n’y a pas de danger = No fear of that; Don’t you fret!
Danser
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.
Dater
Cet événement date de loin = That event happened long ago.
Dé
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.]
Débandade
Ils laissèrent tout à la débandade = They left all at sixes and
sevens, in confusion.
Fuir à la débandade = To fly helter-skelter.
Débit
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.]
Debout
*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.]
Défense d’entrer sous peine d’amende = Trespassers will be
prosecuted.
Dégainer
Être brave jusqu’au dégainer = To be brave until it come to
blows.
[Dégainer = to unsheathe a sword.]
Dégourdir
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.
Dégoûter
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!
Dehors
Sauver le dehors = To save appearances.
Il n’a pas de dehors = His personal appearance is not
prepossessing; He looks nobody.
Délit
En flagrant délit = In the very act; red-handed.
[Lat. In flagrante delicto.]
Déloger
Déloger sans tambour ni trompette = To leave without beat of
drum.
Demain
Avec lui c’est toujours demain = He always procrastinates.
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.]
Dépense
*Les folles dépenses refroidissent la cuisine = Wilful waste
makes woeful want.
Déplaire
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.”]
Dépourvu
Au dépourvu = Unprepared.
Dératé
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.]
Dernier
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.]
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.
Dieu
À Dieu ne plaise! = God forbid!
Jurer ses grands dieux = To affirm vehemently; To swear by all
that one holds sacred.
Différer
*Ce qui est différé n’est pas perdu = All is not lost that is
delayed.
[German: Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben.]
Diligence
Voyager par la diligence d’Adam = To travel on shanks’ nag.
[German: Auf Schusters Rappen.]
Dindon
C’est un franc dindon = He is a thorough goose.
Être le dindon de la farce = To be the dupe.
Dire
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.”]
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.
Discrétion
On nous donna du vin à discrétion = They gave us as much wine
as we wanted (wine ad libitum).
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.]
Doigt
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.
Dommage
C’est dommage! = What a pity.
Donner
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.]
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
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.
Dos
*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.
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.
Embrasser
*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.]
Employer
Il a employé le vert et le sec pour y parvenir = He left no
stone unturned to secure success.
Emporter
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).
Empressé
Il fait l’empressé auprès de sa vieille tante = He pays marked
attention to his old aunt.
Emprunter
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.]
Casser le nez à quelqu’un à coups d’encensoir = To flatter some
one fulsomely to his face. (See Casser.)
Enchère
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.
Enclume
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.]
Endroit
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.
Endimancher
Des gens endimanchés = Folk rigged out in their Sunday best.
Enfant
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).
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.
Épingle
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.
Éponge
Passons l’éponge là-dessus = Let us say no more about it; Let
us forget all about it; Let bygones be bygones.
Épreuve
C’est un ami à toute épreuve = He is a well-tried, faithful,
trusty friend.
Épuiser
L’édition est épuisée = The book is out of print.
Équipée
Oh! la belle équipée! = Here’s a pretty kettle of fish!
Ergot
Se dresser sur ses ergots = To stand on one’s dignity.
Esprit
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.]
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.
Fagot
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.
Fagoter
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.]
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.]
Farine
Des gens de même farine = Persons of the same kidney (generally
in a bad sense); People tarred with the same brush.
Fat
“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).]
Faute
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.
Faux
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.
*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
*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.
Il faut passer par là ou par la fenêtre = It is absolutely
inevitable.
Fer
*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.)
Férir
Sans coup férir = Without striking a blow.
Ferré
Il est ferré sur la géographie = He is well up in geography.
Fête
*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.
Feu
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.
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.
Fève
*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
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.]
Fièvre
*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.]
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.
Fils
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.]
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.]
Fontaine
*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.”]
Force
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.
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).
Forgeron
*À force de forger on devient forgeron = Practice makes
perfect; Drawn wells are seldom dry.
[Lat. Fit fabricando faber.]
Fort
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.
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.]
Fortune
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.
Fou
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.”]
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.
Fouet
Il ne marche qu’à coups de fouet = He works only when he is
compelled.
Fouetter
Fouette, cocher! = Fire away! Go ahead!
Four
Il fait noir comme dans un four = It is as dark as pitch.
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.
Fourchette
Une bonne fourchette = A good trencherman.
Fourgon
*La pelle se moque du fourgon = The pot calls the kettle black.
Fourreau
*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.]
Fourrer
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.
Frais
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.
Français
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.]
Franquette
Recevoir quelqu’un à la bonne franquette = To treat a person
without ceremony.
Frein
Ronger son frein = To put up with annoyance in silence.
A vieille mule frein doré = Old women have the finest clothes.
Friandise
Aimer les friandises (chatteries) = To have a sweet tooth.
Friser
Elle frise la quarantaine = She is just upon forty.
Froid
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.
Front
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.
Frotter
*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.
Fuite
Une bonne fuite vaut mieux qu’une mauvaise attente = Discretion
is the better part of valour.
Fumée
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.”]
Cela fait fureur maintenant = That is quite the rage now; That
is all the go now.
Fusil
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.
Gaffe
Faire une gaffe = To put one’s foot in it; To make a stupid
blunder.
Gageure
*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.]
Gagner
*Qui épargne gagne = A penny saved is a penny earned.
Il gagne à être connu = He improves upon acquaintance.
Gai
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.)
Gaieté
De gaieté de cœur = Out of pure wantonness.
Gaillard
Être sur le gaillard d’avant = To serve before the mast; To be
a common seaman.
Galère
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?”
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?”]
Galeux
*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.)
Galon
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.”]
Gant
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.
Garçon
Vous voilà joli garçon! = A pretty fellow you are!
Garde
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.
Garder
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!
Gaspiller
Ce garçon gaspille son temps = That boy fools his time away.
*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.
Grandeur
Un buste de grandeur naturelle = A life-size bust.
Gré
*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.
Grelot
*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?”]
Grenier
Il va de la cave au grenier = 1. He rambles in his talk. 2. He
writes very unevenly (up and down).
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.]
Hanter
Dis-moi qui tu hantes, je te dirai qui tu es = A man is known
by his company; Birds of a feather flock together.
Haro
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.]
Hasard
Il corrige le hasard = He cheats at play.
[“La fortune est redevenue mauvaise, il faut la corriger.” Hamilton, Mémoires de Grammont, iii.]
*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.”]
Hâter
*Ouvrage hâté, ouvrage gâté = Haste makes waste.
Haut
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!
Herbe
*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.
Heure
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!
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.
Histoire
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
Hommage de l’auteur = With the author’s compliments.
Homme
*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 estDEl’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.]
Honneur
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.
Honte
Nous lui avons fait honte = 1. We caused him to feel ashamed of
himself. 2. He was ashamed of us.
Honteux
*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
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).
Hôte
*Qui compte sans son hôte compte deux fois = He who reckons
without his host must reckon again.
Huile
Sentir l’huile = To smell of the lamp (of poetry, etc.).
C’est jeter de l’huile sur le feu = It is adding fuel to the
fire (flames).
Jeu
*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.
Jeune
*Qui jeune n’apprend, rien ne saura = An old dog will learn no
tricks. (See Jeunesse.)
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.]
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.
Juge
*De fou juge briève (brève) sentence = A fool’s bolt is soon
shot.
Juger
Juger sur l’étiquette du sac = To judge by appearances, by the
exterior.
Au juger = At a guess.
Jurer
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.
Juste
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.]
Justice
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.
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.
Ligne
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.
Linotte
Il a une tête de linotte = He is a hare-brained fellow.
Livre
Traduire à livre ouvert = To translate at sight.
Loin
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.
Long
*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
Longer la côte = To hug the shore.
Longueur
Ce procès traîne en longueur = That lawsuit is dragging on
slowly.
*Qui se loue s’emboue = Self-praise is no recommendation.
Loup
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.]
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.)
Main
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.
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.
Manger
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.
Manière
Je l’ai rossé de la belle manière (fam.) = I gave him a sound
thrashing.
Manquer
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!
Marchand
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.]
Marché
Par dessus le marché = Into the bargain; Over and above.
Il s’est mis martel en tête = He made himself very uneasy.
Massacrer
Il est d’une humeur massacrante = He is as cross as two sticks.
Matière
Il est bien enfoncé dans la matière = He is very coarse, very
prosaic.
La table des matières = The table of contents (of a book).
Matin
Il partira un de ces quatre matins = He will start one of these
fine days.
Maure
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.
Mèche
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.
Médaille
C’est le revers de la médaille = That is the dark side of the
picture.
Médard
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.]
Médecin
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.
*La méfiance est mère de la sûreté = Safe bind, safe find.
[La Fontaine, Fables, iii. 18.]
Même
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.
Ménage
Ils font bon ménage = They live happily together.
Elle fait le ménage = She is doing her housework.
Ménager
*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.]
Mentir
*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.
Méprendre
Québec, c’est Saint-Malo à s’y méprendre (Max O’Rell) = You
could easily mistake Quebec for St. Malo.
Mer
*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.
Remplir son mérite = To act up to one’s reputation.
Merle
*On ne prend pas les vieux merles à la pipée = Old birds are
not to be caught with chaff.
Merveille
Il se porte à merveille = He is in splendid health.
Messe
*Près du moûtier, à messe le dernier = The nearer the church,
the farther from God.
Métier
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).]
Mettre
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.
Midi
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.
Mien
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.
*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.
Milieu
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.]
Mine
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.
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.
Morveux
*Qui se sent morveux se mouche (pop.) = If the cap fits, wear
it. (See Galeux.)
Mot
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.
Je ne mâche pas mes mots = I don’t mince matters; I call a
spade a spade.
Mouche
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.
Moudre
Il viendra moudre à notre moulin = He will be in want of us
some day.
Moulin
C’est un vrai moulin à paroles = She is a regular chatterbox;
He is a regular windbag.
Moutarde
Il m’a fait monter la moutarde au nez = He irritated me; He
made me lose my temper.
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.]
Moutardier
Il se croit le premier moutardier du pape = He thinks no small
beer of himself.
Mouton
*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.]
Moyen
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.
Mur
Je l’ai mis au pied du mur = I drove him into a corner; I made
him decide one way or the other.
Muraille
*Muraille blanche, papier de fou = Fools write their names on
walls.
Broyer du noir = To have the blues; To feel very sad.
Nom
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.
Nombre
Tout fait nombre = Every little helps.
Normand
C’est répondre en Normand = That is an evasive answer.
Nourrice
Elle dit qu’elle a vingt ans.—Et les mois de nourrice! (fam.)
= She says she is twenty.—And the rest!
Nouvelle
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?
Nue
Tomber des nues = To be astounded.
Nuire
*Ce qui nuit à l’un sert à l’autre = What is one man’s meat is
another man’s poison.
Nuit
*La nuit porte conseil = Time will show a plan; Sleep upon it;
Seek advice of your pillow.
O.
Œil
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.
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.
Œuf
*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.)
*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.]
Oindre
*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.]
Oiseau
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.
*“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
On est un sot = “They-say-so” is half a liar.
[Note that there is no liaison after On here.]
Ongle
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.
Onguent
*Dans les petites boîtes les bons onguents = Small parcels hold
fine wares. (See Aune.)
Opiner
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.]
Oreille
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.
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.
Orfèvre
*“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.]
Orgueil
*Il n’est orgueil que de sot enrichi = Set a beggar on
horseback, he’ll ride to the devil.
Orme
*Attendez-moi sous l’orme = You may wait for me till doomsday.
Ortie
Rabelais jeta le froc aux orties = Rabelais was an unfrocked
priest.
Ôter
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.”]
Oublier
Oublions le passé = Let bygones be bygones.
Ours
C’est un ours mal léché = He is an ill-licked cub; He is an
ill-bred [or, ill-shapen] fellow.
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.]
Ouvrier
*Mauvais ouvrier n’a jamais bons outils = A bad workman always
blames his tools.
Ouvrir
Il traduit à livre ouvert = He translates at sight.
P.
Paille
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.]
Pain
Cet homme est bon comme le pain = That man is goodness itself.
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.
Pair
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.
Paire
*Les deux font la paire (fam.) = They are well matched;
Arcades ambo.
*Je l’ai envoyé paître (fam.) = I sent him about his business.
Paix
Paix et peu = Anything for a quiet life.
Panier
*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.
Panneau
Donner dans le panneau = To fall into the trap.
Panse
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.]
Papier
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.]
Paquet
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.
Par
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.]
Paraître
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.
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.]
Patte
Vous faites des pattes de mouche = You have a small, ill-formed
handwriting.
Il marche à quatre pattes = He walks on all-fours.
Pauvre
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
*Pauvreté n’est pas vice = Poverty is no crime.
Pavé
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
Payer de sa personne = To bravely expose oneself to danger; To
risk one’s skin.
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.]
Peine
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.
Peinture
Je ne peux pas le voir même en peinture = I hate the very sight
of that man.
Pelé
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.
Pelle
*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.
Pelote
Il a fait sa pelote = He has feathered his nest.
Pendant
Cet homme n’a pas son pendant (or, pareil) = That man has not
his match.
Pendre
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.
Penser
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.
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.]
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.]
Pierre
*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.
Piété
Sa montre est au mont de piété = His watch is at the
pawnbroker’s. (See Accrocher.)
Pignon
Avoir pignon sur rue = To have a house of one’s own.
Pile
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.]
Pilier
C’est un pilier d’estaminet (or, de café) = He is a
public-house lounger, a pub-loafer.
Pilule
Dorer la pilule = To gild the pill.
Pipe
Casser sa pipe (pop.) = To kick the bucket; To hop the twig; To
die.
Piquer
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.
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.
Place
*Qui va à la chasse perd sa place = If you leave your place,
you lose it.
Plaider
“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.
Plaie
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.
Plaisanterie
Une bonne plaisanterie mérite les honneurs du bis = A good tale
is none the worse for being told twice.
Plan
Reléguer (mettre) au second plan = To put into the background.
Planche
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.
Plancher
Le plancher des vaches (fam.) = Dry land; Terra firma.
Débarrasse-moi le plancher (fam.) = Get out of my way.
Planter
Vous m’avez planté là = You left me without any warning; You
left me in the lurch.
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.
Plâtre
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.)
Plein
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.
Pleurer
La niaise! pleurer à chaudes larmes pour une vétille = The
silly girl! to cry her eyes out for a trifle.
Pleuvoir
Pleuvoir des hallebardes = To rain cats, dogs, and pitchforks.
Pli
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.
Pluie
*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
*Plus on a, plus on veut avoir = Much would have more.
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.
Polichinelle
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.]
Politesse
*Force politesse, trop de finesse = Full of courtesy, full of
craft.
Pont
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.]
Pontoise
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.]
Porte
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.
On a condamné la porte = The door is nailed up, blocked up.
Portée
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.
Porter
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.
Poseur
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.]
Possession
*En fait de meubles possession vaut titre = Possession is nine
points of the law.
Possible
Pas possible! = You don’t say so! “Well, I never!”
Pot
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.]
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.]
Puce
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.
Puits
Cet homme est un puits de science = He is a man of deep
learning.
Q.
Quand
Je le ferai quand même = I shall do it just the same; I shall
do it whatever it may cost.
Quant
Se tenir sur son quant-à-soi = To stand on one’s dignity.
Quart
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.
Quatorze
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.]
Quatre
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.]
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.
Risée
Il est la risée de tout le monde = He is the laughing-stock of
every one.
Roche
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.
Roi
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).
Rompre
Applaudir un acteur à tout rompre = To applaud an actor so as
to bring the house down (to lift the roof).
Rondement
Il y va rondement = He acts frankly and quickly.
Il mènera cette affaire rondement = He will not dally about
that matter.
Rose
Il n’est point de rose sans épines = Every rose has its thorn;
No rose without a thorn.
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.]
Roue
Il fait la roue = He shows off.
Rouge
Se fâcher tout rouge = To get into a passion.
Voir rouge = To be seized with a sudden thirst for blood.
Roulette
Cela marche comme sur des roulettes = That is getting on
swimmingly.
Royaliste
Être plus royaliste que le roi (plus catholique que le pape)
= To out-Herod Herod.
Royauté
“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.]
Rubis
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.]
Ruisseau
*Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières = Many a little
makes a mickle.
S.
Sac
*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.
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.
Service
Qu’y a-t-il pour votre service? = What can I do for you?
Servir
Madame est servie = Dinner is served.
*À quoi sert de vous mettre en colère? = What is the use of
getting angry?
Seul
Cela va tout seul = That is no trouble; That works of its own
accord.
Si
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!
Sien
*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.
Singe
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.”]
Soif
*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.
Solide
Il songe au solide = He has an eye to the main chance.
Soleil
Montrer le soleil avec un flambeau = To hold a farthing
rushlight to the sun; To paint the lily.
Somme (m.)
Je n’ai fait qu’un somme = I never woke all night.
Somme (f.)
Somme toute = After all; Taking everything into consideration;
To conclude.
En somme = On the whole; In the main.
Songe
“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.
Sonner
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.
Sornette
Il nous berce de sornettes = He puts us off with silly tales.
Sort
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.).
Je lui ai parlé de la bonne sorte = I gave it him soundly; I
gave him a piece of my mind.
Sortie
Il a fait une sortie = He flew into a passion.
Sot
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.
Sou
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.
Souche
C’est une vraie souche = He is a regular log.
Faire souche = To found a family.
Soufflet
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.]
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.
Temps
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!”]
Tendre
Il vaut mieux tendre la main que le cou = It is better to beg
than to steal.
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
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.]
Tenir
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.
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.]
Tordre
Je me tordais de rire (fam.) = I was splitting my sides (or,
convulsed) with laughter.
Tort
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.
Tôt
*Le plus tôt sera le mieux = The sooner, the better.
Toucher
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.
Tour
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.
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.
Trait
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.
Traite
Tout d’une traite = At a stretch, without stopping.
Traiter
Il m’a traité de fat = He called me a fop.
Il m’a traité en roi = He treated me like a lord.
Traître
Il n’a pas dit un traître mot = He never spoke a single word.
Tramontane
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.]
*Qui dit trop ne dit rien = He who wants to prove too much
proves nothing.
Trou
Faire un trou à la lune (fam.) = To shoot the moon; To fly from
one’s creditors.
Troubler
C’est un trouble-fête = He is a mar-joy, a wet blanket.
Trousse
Le voleur fuyait, mais nous étions à ses trousses = The thief
made off, but we were at his heels.
Trouver
Cela se trouve bien = That is lucky.
Tu
Être à tu et à toi = To be on very familiar terms with.
Tuer
Crier à tue-tête = To shout at the top of one’s voice.
U.
Un
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.
Union
L’union fait la force = United we stand, divided we fall.
Usine
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.
Vache
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.
C’est le grand chemin des vaches = That is the beaten track.
Le plancher des vaches (fam.) = Terra firma.
Vaincre
*“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.]
Valet
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!
Valeur
“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.
Valoir
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.
Veine
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.
Velours
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.”]
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.
Ver
Nu comme un ver = Stark naked; As naked as when one was born.
Vérité
*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.”]
Verrier
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.]
Vers
“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.
Vert
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.]
Mettre un cheval au vert = To send a horse to grass.
Vessie
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.]
Vie
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
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.]
Vif
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.
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.
Vigne
Il est dans les vignes du Seigneur = He is in his cups.
Vin
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.
Violent
Cela est un peu violent = That is too bad.
Violon
Payer les violons = To pay the piper.
Visière
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.]
Vite
Plus vite que ça (fam.) = Look sharp about it.
Vivre
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).
Je n’ai pas voix au chapitre = (lit.) I have no right to speak;
(fig.) My opinion is not listened to.
Volée
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.
Voleur
*Quand les voleurs se battent, les larcins se découvrent = When
thieves fall out, honest men get their own.
Volonté
*La bonne volonté est reputée pour le fait = The will is as
good as (is taken for) the deed.
Vôtre
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.
Vouer
Je ne sais à quel saint me vouer = I do not know which way to
turn.
Vouloir
*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?
“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.”
Met with in Reading, Writing, Translating, and Speaking
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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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Other Works are in active preparation.
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:
“povery” was changed to “poverty” in the index on page 245.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of French Idioms and Proverbs, by
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