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.
Fêler
*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.
Fenêtre
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.]
Figue
*Moitié figue, moitié raisin = 1. Partly willingly, partly by force. 2. Half one thing and half another. 3. Half in jest, half in earnest.
[This expression is often used of a remark that may be complimentary or not.]
Fil
Je lui donnerai du fil à retordre = I will cut out his work for him; I will give him a deal of trouble.
Ce sont des finesses cousues de fil blanc = Those tricks are easily found out.
*A toile ourdie Dieu envoie le fil = God sends thread for a begun web.
Au fil de l’eau = With the stream.
Au fil de l’épée = To the edge of the sword.
Filer
Filer à l’anglaise = To leave without saying good-bye, without attracting attention; To take French leave.
*Du temps que Berthe filait = When Adam delved and Eve span; In the good old times.
[Berthe was the mother of Charlemagne. She was known as Berthe au grand pied from her club foot.]
Filer doux = To sing small.
Il faut filer (or, Filons!) (fam.) = We must be off, trot off.
La plus belle fille du monde ne peut donner que ce qu’elle a = No man can give more than he has; A man cannot give what he has not got.
*Quand on a des filles, on est toujours berger =
My son is my son till he gets him a wife,
My daughter’s my daughter all the days of her life.
*Fille oisive, à mal pensive = An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.
[“For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.”
Isaac Watts, Divine Songs, xx.]
| 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.]
Il sait le fort et le fin de son art = He knows every trick of his trade.
Plus fin que lui n’est pas bête = He who can take him in is no fool.
J’arrive du fin fond de l’Afrique = I have come from the very depths of Africa.
C’est une fine mouche (or, lame) = He is a cunning fellow, a sly dog. (See Compère.)
C’est fin contre fin = It is diamond cut diamond.
[Also: Fin contre fin ne vaut rien pour doublure.]
Fin contre fin gare la bombe = “When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.”
[Nathaniel Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. 2.]
Dites nous le fin mot = Tell us the secret.
Il a le nez fin = 1. He has a good nose. 2. He is far-sighted, sagacious.
Jouer au plus fin = To vie in cunning.
Finir
Ce sont des disputes à n’en plus finir = Those are endless quarrels.
Flamber
C’est un homme flambé = He is a ruined man, a lost man.
Flanc
Il s’est battu les flancs pour rien = He gave himself all that trouble for nothing.
Il est sur le flanc = He is laid up, on his back.
Prêter le flanc à des reproches = To lay oneself open to reproaches.
Flétrir
*De rose flétrie nul ne soucie = The fading rose has no suitor.
C’est la fine fleur de l’armée = It is the cream of the army.
L’affaire passa à fleur de corde = The matter only just succeeded.
Les yeux à fleur de tête = Goggle eyes (i.e. on a level with the cheek-bone and fore-head).
À fleur de terre = On a level (or, flush) with the ground.
À la fleur de l’âge = In the prime of life.
Il a les nerfs à fleur de peau = His nerves are always on the twitch; He is extremely sensitive.
Fleurette
Conter fleurettes = To say soft nothings.
*Ce qui vient de la flûte s’en va au tambour = Lightly come, lightly go; What is dishonestly acquired is easily dissipated.
Foi
C’est un homme sans foi ni loi = He is a man without honour or honesty.
Il est de peu de foi = He is not to be trusted.
Ses ouvrages en font foi = His works prove it.
*C’est avec la bonne foi qu’on va le plus loin = Honesty is the best policy.
La foi du charbonnier = Blind faith.
Je ne puis ajouter foi à ce qu’il dit = I cannot believe what he says.
Ma foi! = Upon my word!
Foin
Mettre du foin dans ses bottes = To feather one’s nest.
[Literally, to place hay in one’s wooden shoes to keep one’s feet warm. Another saying is Mettre du beurre dans ses épinards.]
Avoir du foin dans ses bottes = To be well off.
Quand il n’y a pas de foin au râtelier, les chevaux se battent = When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window.
Folie
Ce qui me lie, c’est ma folie = Straw bands will tie a fool’s hands.
Fond
Fonds
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.]
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.
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
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.]
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.
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
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.”]
Fur
Au fur et à mesure = In proportion as.
Fureur
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.]
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?”]
*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!
Geler
Geler à pierre fendre = To freeze very hard.
Gémir
Faire gémir la presse (ironic.) = To print one’s writings.
Gêne
Il est sans gêne = He is free and easy (casual, off-hand); He makes himself too much at home.
*Où il y a de la gêne il n’y a pas de plaisir (ironic.) = There is nothing like making one’s self at home everywhere.
Il a connu la gêne = He knows what want is.
Gêner
Est-ce que je vous gêne? = Am I in your way?
Ne vous gênez pas! = Do not stand upon ceremony! Make yourself at home! Don’t mind me!
Il ne se gêne guère = Doesn’t he make himself at home! Well, he is a cool customer!
Il est plus gênant que gêné = His free and easy manners are unpleasant to others, but he does not mind that.
Gens
*A gens de village, trompette de bois = Rough tools for rough work.
Gésir
*C’est là que gît le lièvre = That is the main point; There’s the rub.
Gibier
C’est un gibier de potence = He is a gallows-bird.
Gloire
“J’aime mieux, n’en déplaise à la gloire,
Vivre au monde deux jours que mille ans dans l’histoire.”
Molière, La Princesse d’Élide, i. 2.
Contrast:
“One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.”
Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Chap. 34.
Gond
Cela me fait sortir des gonds = That exasperates (unhinges) me.
Gorge
Cette fumée me prend à la gorge = That smoke makes me cough, chokes me.
Il cria à pleine gorge = He cried out as loud as he could.
Il fera des gorges chaudes du malheur de sa tante = He will chuckle over (or, make fun of) his aunt’s misfortune.
[“Prétend qu’elle en fera gorge chaude et curée.”
La Fontaine, Fables, iv. 12.]
Rendre gorge = To have to pay back money unjustly acquired; To disgorge one’s ill-gotten gains.