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?
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.
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.
Œuvre
*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.
[Racine, Athalie, ii. 7.]
À vue d’oiseau = A bird’s-eye view.
À vol d’oiseau = As the crow flies.
Oisiveté
*“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.
*Dans les petites boîtes les bons onguents = Small parcels hold fine wares. (See Aune.)
Il opine du bonnet = He agrees with the previous speakers without saying a word.
[From the custom of judges who agreed with the decision of a brother judge, taking off their caps and saying nothing. It is also said of a subordinate who always agrees with his superior.]
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.
Par dessus les oreilles = Over head and ears.
Autant lui en pend à l’oreille = He may expect the same (something unpleasant). (Compare Nez.)
Les oreilles ont dû vous corner (tinter) = Your ears must have burned.
Je lui frotterai les oreilles = I will twist his tail for him.
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.”]
Ours
C’est un ours mal léché = He is an ill-licked cub; He is an ill-bred [or, ill-shapen] fellow.
[La Fontaine, Fables, xi. 7.]
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.
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.]
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.
Paître
*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.
Le livre vient de paraître = The book is just out, just published.
Il n’y paraît plus = There is no trace of it.
Il n’y paraît pas = One would not have thought it.
Pareil
J’ai le pareil = I have one like it.
Je vous rendrai la pareille = 1. I will pay you out. 2. I will do the same for you.
On n’a jamais vu chose pareille = One never heard of such a thing.
Paresseux
*Ce sont les paresseux qui font le plus de chemin = Lazy people take the most pains.
Parier Il y a cent (or, gros) à parier qu’ils ne reviendront pas = The odds are that they will not come back.
Paris
Il prend Paris pour Corbeil, le Pirée pour un homme = “He does not know a hawk from a handsaw.”
[Hamlet, ii. 2, where “handsaw” is a corruption of hernshaw = heron. This was an old proverb, corrupted before Shakespeare’s day.
“Pour grain ne prenant paille ou Paris pour Corbeil.”—Régnier, Sat. xiv.]
Le Tout-Paris de ce temps-là = The fashionable world of Paris of that day.
Parler
Nous parlions de la pluie et du beau temps = We were not talking of anything important or confidential; We were talking of indifferent matters.
| Parler de bouche Au cœur ne touche |
}= | Lip worship does not reach the heart. |
C’est à vous à parler = It is your turn to speak.
C’est à vous de parler = It is your duty to speak.
Qu’il vienne, il trouvera à qui parler = Let him come, he will find his match.
Trop gratter cuit, trop parler nuit = Least said, soonest mended; Speech is silvern, silence is golden.
[Italian: Chi parla semina, chi tace raccoglie = Who speaks sows,
who keeps silence reaps.
Qui d’autruy parler voudra
Regarde soi et il taira.]
*Jamais beau parler n’écorcha la langue = Fair words never did harm; Civility costs nothing.
Il a son franc parler = He is free-spoken.
Parole
*Vous avez la parole = It is your turn to speak; You are allowed to speak (i.e. you have caught the Speaker’s eye). See Avoir.
Je lui coupai la parole = I interrupted him.
*Un homme d’honneur n’a que sa parole = An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.
Être de parole = To be as good as one’s word.
Manquer de parole (or, manquer à sa parole) = To break one’s word.
Tenir parole = To keep one’s word.
Part
En bonne ou mauvaise part = In a good or bad sense.
Nous le savons de bonne part = We know it on good authority.
Partager
Il est bien partagé = The Fates have been kind to him.
Parti
Il a pris son parti = 1. He has made up his mind. 2. He has resigned himself to it.
De parti pris = Deliberately.
C’est un parti pris = His mind is made up; It is a foregone conclusion.
C’est un parti pris chez lui de toujours contredire = He will always contradict.
A parti pris point de conseil = Advice is useless when a man’s mind is made up.
Il tire parti de tout = He makes a profit out of everything.
Il sait tirer parti de la vie = He knows how to make the best of life.
Il a épousé un bon parti = He made a good match.
Il vous fera un mauvais parti = He will try and pick a quarrel with you so as to ill-use you, to do you harm.
Partie
Il m’a pris à partie = He took me to task; (legally) He summoned me.
[Partie is literally a man who pleads against any one in a lawsuit. Compare:
“Va, je suis ta partie et non pas ton bourreau.”
Corneille, Cid, 839.]
C’était une partie nulle = It was a drawn game.
Pas
Marcher à pas de géant = To put on one’s seven-league boots.
Se tirer d’un mauvais pas = To get out of an awkward fix (scrape).
*Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte = In everything the beginning is the most difficult part; The first step downward makes the others easier.
[“Il n’y a que le premier obstacle qui coûte à vaincre.”—Bossuet, Pensées chrétiennes, 9.]
Il prend le pas sur moi = He takes precedence of me.
J’y vais de ce pas = I am going there directly.
Je le mettrai au pas = I will put him on his good behaviour.
Marquer le pas = (lit.) To mark time; (fig.) To wait for a post to which one has a right.
Marchez au pas = Drive slowly; Walk in step.
Passe
Il est en passe de devenir ministre = He is in a fair way (he stands a good chance) to become a Cabinet Minister.
Passer
Il faut bien que j’en passe par là = I must submit to that; I must put up with it.
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.
Être payé pour savoir = To know a thing to one’s cost.
Payer d’audace = To put on a bold face; To brazen a thing out.
Payer les violons = To pay the piper.
Je ne me paye pas de mauvaises raisons = I will only be satisfied with good reasons.
Vous vous payez de mots = You are the dupe of words; You are taken in by empty words.
Il me la payera = I will make him smart for it.
Qui paye ses dettes s’enrichit = Debt is the worst kind of poverty.
Payer son écot = To pay one’s share (scot).
Il veut se payer ma tête = He wishes to have the laugh of me.
Pays
*Pays ruiné vaut mieux que pays perdu = Half a loaf is better than no bread.
Je lui ferai voir du pays = I will lead him a pretty dance.
*Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué = Do not count your chickens before they are hatched; First catch your hare.
[“Il m’a dit qu’il ne faut jamais
Vendre la peau de l’ours qu’on ne l’ait mis par terre.”
La Fontaine, Fables, v. 20.]
Il crève dans sa peau (fam.) = (lit.) He is extremely fat; (fig.) He is bursting with pride, spite.
Faire peau neuve = To turn over a new leaf.
Péché
Pécher
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
Perdre
*Un de perdu, deux de retrouvés = When one door shuts, another opens.
Je m’y perds = I am getting bewildered; I cannot make head or tail of it.
Il perd la carte = He is getting confused.
C’est du bien perdu = It is casting pearls before swine.
*Qui perd pèche = He who loses sins; Nothing succeeds like success.
Perdrix
*Toujours des perdrix = The best things pall in time.
Perle
Nous ne sommes pas ici pour enfiler des perles = We are not here to trifle our time away.
Pérou
Ce n’est pas le Pérou (fam.) = It’s no great catch.
Personne
C’est la bonté en personne = He (or, She) is kindness itself.
Perte
À perte de vue = As far as the eye can reach.
Je suis en perte = I am out of pocket.
J’ai fait cela en pure perte = What I have done is completely useless; All I have done is to no purpose.
Pesant
Il vaut son pesant d’or = He is worth his weight in gold.
Elles sont aux petits soins pour leur vieille mère = They are all attention to their old mother.
*Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières = Many a little makes a mickle.
*Petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid = Little strokes fell great oaks. (See Maille and Ruisseau.)
[Also: Grain à grain amasse la fourmi son pain.
Peu à peu la vieille file sa quenouille.
Latin: Adde parvum parvo tandem fit magnus acervus.
Italian: A passo a passo se va lontana.
Little and often fills the purse.]
En petit = On a small scale.
*Petit mercier, petit panier = A small pack becomes a small pedlar.
[“Little boats should keep the shore,
Larger ships may venture more.”
Latin: Pauper agat caute.]
*Petite cervelle, prompte colère = A little pot is soon hot.
Pétrin
Je suis dans le pétrin (fam.) = I am in a mess, fix.
Les finances sont en ce moment dans un pétrin impossible = The finances are in horrible disorder just now.
Peu
Si peu que rien = Next to nothing.
Imaginez un peu! = Just fancy!
Pour peu que cela vous ennuie = However little it annoys you.
Tant soit peu meilleur = Be it ever so little better; A shade better.
À peu de chose près = Not far off.
Peur
Elle était mise à faire peur = She looked a fright.
Il a eu plus de peur que de mal = He was more frightened than hurt.
Phrase
Faire des phrases = To speak affectedly.
Pie
*Il a trouvé la pie au nid = He has found a mare’s nest.
Elle jase comme une pie borgne = She chatters like a magpie.
Pièce
J’ai fait cela de toutes pièces = I have done that entirely (i.e. every part of it).
Je lui ai donné la pièce = I gave him a trifle, tip.
C’est la pièce de résistance = It is the principal dish (of a meal).
Il a bon pied, bon œil = He is hale and hearty.
Sur le pied où en sont les choses = Considering how matters stand.
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.)