Douter
Je ne me doutais de rien = I did not suspect anything.
Je m’en doutais = I thought so.
Douter
Je ne me doutais de rien = I did not suspect anything.
Je m’en doutais = I thought so.
Douzaine
C’est un poète comme on en trouve à la douzaine = He is a very minor poet.
[Régnier, Sat. iv.]
Dragée
Tenir la dragée haute à quelqu’un = To make a person pay well (or, wait a long time) for what he desires.
Dragon
Cette femme est un vrai dragon = 1. That woman is a virago. 2. That woman is very masculine (in appearance and manners).
Je suis dans de beaux draps = I am in a fine mess, in a pretty pickle.
Il voudrait avoir le drap et l’argent = He would like to have his cake and eat it too.
Droit
Remettez ceci à qui de droit = Give this to the proper person, to the person who has a right to it.
Il fera droit à votre demande = He will accede to your request.
Il fait son droit = He is studying for the bar.
Drôle
C’est un drôle de corps = He is a queer fish.
C’est un mauvais drôle = He is a downright scamp.
Dru
Frapper fort et dru = To strike with might and main.
*Il n’est pire eau que l’eau qui dort = Still waters run deep.
*C’est porter de l’eau à la mer (or, rivière) = It is carrying coals to Newcastle.
[The Greek equivalent was Γλαῦκας εἰς Αθήνας = Owls to Athens; the Hebrew “Enchantments to Egypt,” and the Late Latin “Indulgences to Rome.”]
Cet homme aime à pêcher en eau trouble = That man likes fishing in troubled waters.
*Ils se ressemblent comme deux gouttes d’eau = They are as like as two peas.
Tout va à vau l’eau = All is going to wreck and ruin.
[A vau l’eau = With the current.]
Pendant l’inondation le toit de cette maison était à fleur d’eau = During the flood the top of that house was on a level with the water.
C’est un donneur d’eau bénite de cour = He makes empty promises.
Les eaux sont basses chez lui = He is hard up; He is in low water.
C’est donner un coup d’épée dans l’eau = It is useless trouble, an unsuccessful attempt.
[“Ἐν ὕδατι γράφειν.”—Plato, Phaedrus, 276 C.]
Faire venir l’eau au moulin = To bring grist to the mill.
Faire venir l’eau à la bouche = To make one’s mouth water.
*L’eau va toujours au moulin = Property always goes to those who have some already; Money makes money; Nothing succeeds like success.
D’ici là il passera bien de l’eau sous le pont = It will be a long time before that happens.
Mettre de l’eau dans son vin = (fig.) To come down a peg.
*L’eau qui tombe goutte à goutte cave la pierre = Dropping water will wear away a stone.
[Ovid begins a line with “Gutta cavat lapidem” an abbreviation of the proverb “Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo.”
“Stillicidi casus lapidem cavat.”—Lucretius, i. 313.]
*Une goutte d’eau suffit pour faire déborder un vase plein = The last straw breaks the camel’s back.
Nager entre deux eaux = (lit.) To swim under water; (fig.) To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
Faire eau (of boats) = To spring a leak.
Faire de l’eau (of boats) = To take in fresh water.
Laissez couler l’eau = Do not be anxious about what cannot be helped; Don’t cry over spilt milk.
Cela s’en est allé en eau de boudin = That collapsed utterly, came to nothing.
[The more correct form is s’en aller en aune de boudin, alluding to Perrault’s tale of Les Souhaits Ridicules.]
Échapper
Échéant
Le cas échéant = Should such a thing happen; If such should be the case.
Échelle
Faire la courte échelle à quelqu’un = To allow some one to climb on one’s shoulders to scale a height; To give a lift to some one.
Après lui il faut tirer l’échelle = One cannot do better than he has (or, does); He beats the record, takes the cake.
École
Faire l’école buissonnière = To play truant.
Faire une école = To make a blunder.
Faire école = To found (or, to be a leader of) a school of art, literature, music, &c.
Écolier
Faire un tour d’écolier = To play a schoolboy trick.
Faire une faute d’écolier = To make a foolish mistake.
Économie
*Il n’y a pas de petites économies = A penny saved is a penny earned; Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.
[Also: Les petites économies font les bonnes maisons.]
Écorcher
*Jamais beau parler n’écorcha la langue = Fair words never did harm; Civility costs nothing.
Il écorche le français = He murders French.
Il écorche l’anguille par la queue = He sets (goes) the wrong way to work.
Écorner
Il fait un vent à écorner (or, décorner) un bœuf = The wind is enough to blow one’s head off.
Écot
Chacun a payé son écot = Each paid for himself.
Écouter
Comme cet homme s’écoute! = What care that man takes of himself!
C’est un écoute s’il pleut = He is a man who cannot be relied upon.
[Mills were so called which depended for their motive-power on rain-water and consequently were continually stopping.]
Il n’écoute que d’une oreille = He pays very little attention.
Écrire
Écrire de bonne encre à quelqu’un = To write to some one in strong terms.
Écuelle
Être propre comme une écuelle de chat = To be very dirty.
Écurie
*Fermer l’écurie quand les chevaux sont dehors = To lock the stable door when the steed is stolen.
C’est un cheval à l’écurie = It is a white elephant.
Effet
Cela fait de l’effet = That looks well; That is showy; That makes a fine display.
Cela me fait cet effet = That seems so to me.
Égal
Cela m’est égal = It is all the same to me; I don’t care.
Tout lui est égal = Everything is the same to him.
D’égal à égal = 1. Between equals. 2. On equal terms.
C’est égal, je me suis joliment amusé = Anyhow (All the same), I enjoyed myself very much.
Église
*Près de l’église, loin de Dieu = The nearer the church, the farther from God.
Gueux comme un rat d’église = As poor as a church mouse.
Élan
Prendre son élan = To take one’s spring (before a jump).
Embarras
Emblée
La loi passa d’emblée = The law passed straight off, by acclamation.
Il a été reçu d’emblée = He passed his examination the first time he went up, without any difficulty.
*Qui trop embrasse mal étreint = Grasp all, lose all.
[“Qui totum vult totum perdit.”—Publius Syrus.
Qui tout convoite tout perd.
L’avarice rompt le sac.
Too much is stark naught.
“Oh, the little more, and how much it is!
And the little less, and what worlds away!”
Browning, Dramatic Lyrics,‘By the Fireside,’ 39.]
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
Encensoir
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).
Enfiler
Je ne suis pas ici pour enfiler des perles = I am not here to waste my time.
Cela ne s’enfile pas comme des perles = That is by no means an easy matter.
Enfonceur
C’est un enfonceur de portes ouvertes = 1. He is a braggart. 2. He takes a deal of trouble to solve a difficulty which does not exist.
Engrenage
Être pris dans l’engrenage = To be caught in the toils.
Enlever
On enleva les journaux comme du pain = The papers sold like hot rolls, like wild-fire.
Ennemi
Il n’y a pas de petit ennemi = Every enemy is to be feared.
[“Croire qu’un faible ennemi ne peut pas nuire, c’est croire qu’une étincelle ne peut pas causer un incendie.” Sa’adi.]
Enseigne
Nous sommes logés à la même enseigne = We are both in the same predicament, in the same boat.
[“ἐν γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ ἐσμεν σκάμματι.” St. Clement’s Epistle to the Church of Corinth.]
À telles enseignes = In proof whereof; So much so that.
Je ne le croirai qu’à bonnes enseignes = I shall only believe it upon good authority.
Il entend à demi mot = He can take a hint.
*À bon entendeur, salut = A word to the wise is enough; Verbum sap.
[“A bon entendeur ne fault qu’une parole.”—Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 7.]
Il n’entend pas de cette oreille = (fig.) He will listen to nothing on that subject.
Vous ne vous y entendez pas = You do not know how to set about it, how to manage it.
Il n’entend pas raillerie là-dessus = 1. You must not speak lightly of that before him. 2. He will not be trifled with on that point.
Entendre la raillerie = To know how to be witty; To be a good hand at chaff.
Entendre raillerie = Not to be offended at a joke; To stand chaff well.
Il n’y entend pas malice = 1. He does not mean any harm; He means no more than he says. 2. He takes it innocently.
Faire l’entendu = To put on a knowing look.
*Il n’est pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre = None so deaf as those who will not hear.
Entente
Un mot à double entente = A word (or, remark) with two meanings.
Enterrer
*Mieux vaut goujat debout qu’empereur enterré = A living dog is better than a dead lion.
Envie
J’ai bien envie d’aller à Paris avec vous = I have a good mind to go to Paris with you.
Il ne porte envie à personne = He envies no one.
Il ne fait envie à personne = No one envies him.
Si l’envie m’en prend = If I feel inclined to do it.
Envoyer
Je l’ai envoyé promener (or, fam., paître) = I sent him about his business.
Épée
C’est son épée de chevet = 1. That is his trusty counsellor. 2. That is what he is always talking about.
[Literally, a sword that hung at the head of a bed to guard one from nocturnal attacks.
“Voilà leur épée de chevet, de l’argent.”—Molière, L’Avare, iii. 5.]
Passer au fil de l’épée = To put to the sword.
Qui porte épée porte paix = One sword keeps another in its scabbard; Si vis pacem, para bellum.
Épervier
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.]
Faire de l’esprit = To try and be witty.
Il a de l’esprit comme quatre = He is very witty.
L’esprit court les rues = Wit is a drug in the market.
Avoir l’esprit bien fait = To be good-tempered.
Les grands esprits se rencontrent = Great wits always jump together; We both said the same thing at the same moment.
Essuyer les plâtres = To move into a newly-built house before the walls are dry; (fig.) To experience the disadvantages of a beginning.
Estomac
Avoir l’estomac dans les talons = To be as hungry as a hunter.
État
Nous faisons peu d’état de cet homme = We consider that man very little; We take little account of that man.
De son état = By profession, by trade.
Je l’ai mis hors d’état de vous nuire = I have put it out of his power to harm you.
Pour un rien il se met dans tous ses états (fam.) = He gets very excited over a mere trifle.
L’État, c’est moi! = The State! I am the State.
[Chéruel, Histoire de l’Administration monarchique en France, Livre II. p. 32.]
Étoffe
Il y a de l’étoffe dans cet enfant = There is grit in that boy.
Voir des étoiles (la lune) en plein midi = To receive a violent blow in the eye, so as to “see stars.”
Étourdir
Étourdir la grosse faim = To take the edge off one’s appetite.
Être
Je n’y suis pour personne = I am not at home to anybody.
Je n’y suis pour rien = I have nothing to do with it; I have no hand in it.
Vous n’y êtes pas = You do not understand it; “You are out of it.”
J’y suis, j’y reste = Here I am, here I stop.
[Marshal MacMahon in the trenches before the Malakoff, Sept. 9, 1855.]
Cette fois, ça y est = Now it is done, and no mistake.
Je n’en suis plus = I am no longer one of the party; I no longer belong to it.
Il n’en a rien été = Nothing came of it.
Il en a été pour sa peine = He had his trouble for nothing.
Il en sera ce qu’il vous plaira = It shall be just as you please.
Je ne sais plus où j’en suis = 1. I have lost the place where I left off (in reading, etc.). 2. I do not know what I am about.
Je suis très bien avec lui = I am on very good terms with him.
Êtes-vous de la noce? = Are you one of the wedding party?
Êtes-vous des nôtres = Are you one of our party? Are you one of us? Do you think as we do?
Voilà ce que c’est que de se mettre en colère = That is the consequence of losing one’s temper.
Je suis à l’étroit = I am cramped for room.
*On ne peut pas être et avoir été = One cannot have one’s cake and eat it. (See Drap.)
Étrenne
Tu n’en auras pas l’étrenne = You will not be the first to use it.
Étrier
Excuser
*Qui s’excuse, s’accuse = If you try to excuse yourself you practically acknowledge that you have done wrong; A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
Excusez du peu (ironic.) = Only that? How modest!
Exemple
Il prêcha d’exemple = He practised what he preached; He set the example.
*Peu de leçons, beaucoup d’exemples = Precepts lead, examples draw; It is easiest learning at another’s cost.
Expérience
*Expérience passe science = Experience is the best master; Experientia docet.
[“Experience is the best of schoolmasters, only the school fees are heavy.” Carlyle, Misc. Essays, i. 137.]
Extrême
Les extrêmes se touchent = Extremes meet; Too far east is west; Too much care may be as bad as downright negligence.
Fabrique
C’est de sa fabrique = That is of his invention.
Marque de fabrique = Trade-mark.
Face
Il fera face à tout = He will meet every demand.
Ce portrait est pris de face = That portrait is taken full face.
Jouer à pile ou face = To play at heads or tails, pitch and toss.
Il le regarda bien en face = He looked him straight in the face.
Façon
Donner un ouvrage à façon = To put out a job to be done.
On travaille à façon (of small tailors, etc.) = People’s own materials made up.
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
Faillir
J’ai failli tomber = I very nearly fell.
Faim
C’est la faim qui épouse la soif = They are both very poor; It is one beggar marrying another.
*La faim chasse le loup hors du bois = Hunger tames the lion; Hunger will break through stone walls.
Faire
Rien n’y fait = Nothing has any effect upon him (or, on it); It is all of no use.
Comment est-il fait? = What sort of a man is he?
*Ce qui est fait est fait = It is no good crying over spilt milk.
*On ne peut faire qu’en faisant = Practice makes perfect.
Faire la Saint-Lundi = To do no work on Monday. (See Lundi.)
[Colloquially: Faire le Lundi.]
Tâchez de faire quelques provisions = Try and collect some provisions.
Faire dix ans de travaux forcés = To undergo ten years’ penal servitude.
Il est bon de se faire à la fatigue = It is good to accustom oneself to fatigue.
Coquelin fait le rôle principal = Coquelin is taking the principal part.
On le fait riche = He is said to be rich.
Cela ne me fait ni chaud ni froid = It is all the same to me.
Je n’ai que faire de vos conseils = I do not care a jot for your advice; I do not want your advice.
*Qui bien fera, bien (se) trouvera = Who works well will have a good reward.
Il ne faut pas me la faire (pop.) = You must not try that on with me.
Combien faites-vous cette étoffe? = How much are you asking for this stuff?
Il aime à ce qu’on fasse cas de lui = He likes to be made a fuss of.
Il fait bien son chemin = He is getting on in the world.
Ils ne font qu’un = They are hand and glove together.
Cela fait beaucoup = That makes a great difference.
Cela me fait sortir des gonds = That exasperates me.
Il faut faire mousser sa marchandise = One must puff one’s goods.
Qu’est-ce que cela me fait? = What is that to me?
Faire huit kilomètres à pied, à cheval, en voiture = To walk, ride, drive, five miles.
Le vert fait bien avec le rose = Green goes well with pink; Pink and green are fit for a queen.
Faire des siennes = To be at one’s old tricks.
Il n’en fait qu’à sa volonté = He is self-willed.
C’est à faire à vous de réussir = You are the man to succeed.
C’en est fait de lui = He is done for; It is all up with him.
Ce qui est fait n’est pas à faire = Better to finish it now than to leave it.
Ce n’est ni fait ni à faire = It is done, but badly, (in a slovenly fashion).
Il fait cher vivre à Londres = Living in London is dear.
Que faire? = What am I (or, are we) to do? What is to be done?
Pourquoi faire? = What for?
Comment faire? = What is to be done?
Que voulez-vous que j’y fasse? = How can I help it? What would you have me do? It is no business of mine.
Je ne saurais qu’y faire = I cannot help it.
A chose faite point de remède = What is done cannot be undone.
Laissez-le faire = Do not interfere with him.
Si faire se peut = If possible.
Cela ne fait rien = That does not matter.
Il n’en fera rien = He will do nothing of the sort.
Je m’y fais = I am getting used to it.
C’est bien fait = It serves him (or, her, you) right.
Quel temps fait-il? = What is the weather like?
Quel temps il fait! = What weather this is!
Paris ne s’est pas fait en un jour = Rome was not built in a day.
Il s’est fait jardinier = He became a gardener.
Elle se fait vieille = She is getting old.
Pour se faire la main = To get one’s hand in (i.e. to get accustomed to the work).
Se faire jour à travers la foule = To force one’s way through the crowd.
Je me fais fort de le faire = I feel quite confident of doing it.
Coquelin sait le mieux se faire une tête = Coquelin is the cleverest at altering his features, at making up.
Cela se fait maintenant = That is the fashion now.
Cela ne se fait pas = That is not proper; That is not the correct thing.
Faiseur
C’est un faiseur d’embarras = He is a fussy personage.
Fait
Cela est de mon fait = That is my doing.
Venons au fait = Let us come to the point.
Mettez-moi au fait de ce qui s’est passé = Tell me what happened.
Il lui a dit son fait = He told him what he thought of him (not complimentary); He gave him a bit of his mind.
Si fait! = Yes, indeed! On the contrary!
Cette place est votre fait = That situation is just the thing for you.
Je suis sûr de mon fait = I am sure of what I am saying; I know what I am about.
C’est un fait accompli = It is done and cannot be undone.
Travailler à prix fait (or, à forfait) = To work at an agreed price; To work by the piece.
Prendre quelqu’un sur le fait = To take any one in the act.
Il a pris fait et cause pour moi = He stood up for me; He took my part.
Falloir
L’homme qu’il faut = The very man (for a post).
Il le faut = It must be so.
Il fallait voir comme il était content = You should have seen how happy he was.
Peu s’en fallut qu’il ne fût reçu = He was all but received; He failed for a few marks.
[Latin: Haud multum abfuit quin....]
C’est un homme comme il faut = He is a perfect gentleman.
C’est un homme comme il en faut = He is one of the right sort.
[Sometimes in bad sense: He is the sort of man we want to do that dirty work.]
C’est un homme comme il en faudrait beaucoup = I wish more men were like him (because of his straightforward or courageous nature).
S’il n’est pas un fripon, il ne s’en faut guère = If he is not a rascal, he is precious near it.
Il s’en faut beaucoup que l’un ait autant de mérite que l’autre = There is a great difference in merit between the two.
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).]