| A | B |
|---|
| Avoir le bras long | to have a long arm (influence) |
| Etre un bourreau des coeurs | to be an executioner of hearts (ladykiller) |
| Avoir le coeur sur la main | to have one's heart on one's hand (kindhearted) |
| Se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter | to think oneself sprung from Jupiter's thigh (conceited) |
| Se mettre le doigt dans l'oeil | to put one's finger into one's eye (fool oneself) |
| Tenir la jambe a quelqu'un | to hold someone's leg (bore someone) |
| Avoir un poil dans la main | to have a hair in one's hand (avoid work) |
| Tomber sur un os | to fall on a bone (hit a snag) |
| Casser les pieds a quelqu'un | to break someone's feet (bore, aggravate) |
| Manger sur le pouce | to eat on the thumb (grab a bite) |
| Tirer le diable par la queue | to pull the devil by the tail (live hand to mouth) |
| Partir ventre a terre | to leave belly-to-ground (race off) |
| Faire l'an pur avoir du son | to play the donkey to get bran (play dumb) |
| Chercher la petite bête | to look for the tiny beast (nitpick) |
| Avoir le cafard | to have the cockroach (down in the dumps) |
| Appeler un chat un chat | to call a cat a cat (spade a spade) |
| Entre chien et loup | between dog and wolf (at dusk) |
| Sauter du coq a l'ane | to jump from rooster to donkey (subject to subject) |
| Avaler des couleuvres | to swallow grass snakes (swallow one's pride) |
| Poser un lapin a quelqu'un | to lay a rabbit on someone (stand someone up |
| Courir deux livres a la fois | to run after two hares at the same time (finger in two pies) |
| Avoir mange du lion | to have eaten lion's meat (great energy) |
| Une truie n'y retrouverait pas ses petits | a sow wouldn't find her young in this place |
| Manger de la vache enragee | to eat meat from a rabid cow (lean times) |
| Faire un cheque en bois | to make a wooden check (bounced check) |
| Casser du bois | to break wood (smash car) |
| Montrer de quel bois on se chauffe | to show what sort of wood one uses to warm oneself (what one is made of) |
| Ramasser une buche | to pick up a log (take a bad fall) |
| Enlever une epine du pied a quelqu'un | to remove a thorn from someone's foot (help someone) |
| Jeter des fleurs a quelqu'un | to throw flowers to somebody (sing their praises) |
| Couper l'herbe sous le pied de quelqu'un | to cut the grass under someone's foot (pull the rug out from under them) |
| Manger les pissenlits par la racine | to eat dandelions by the root (to push up daisies) |
| Couper la poire en deux | to cut the pear in two (meet halfway) |
| Faire le poireau | to act like a leek (to be left waiting) |
| Tomber dans les pommes | to fall into the apples (faint) |
| Tirer les marrons due feu | to pull the chestnuts out of the fire (used as a dupe or tool) |
| Se fendre la peche | to split one's peach (laugh one's head off) |
| Jeter de l'huile sur le feu | to throw oil on the fire |
| Tondre des oeufs | to shave eggs (be a skinflint) |
| Pedaler dans la semoule | to pedal in the semolina (take leave of one's senses |
| Cracher dans la soupe | to spit in the soup (spoil something so only you can enjoy it) |
| Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu'un | to break sugar on someone's back (talk behind someone's back) |
| Rotir le balai | to roast the broom (lead the high life) |
| Mettre quelqu'un en boite | to put someone in a box (pull their leg, make fun of) |
| Tirer la couverture a soi | to pull the blanket to oneself (take the lion's share, the credit) |
| Tomber les quatre fers en l'air | to fall down with four horseshoes up in the air (fall flat on back) |
| Etre une vraie girouette | to be a true weather vane (change with the weather) |
| Passer au peigne fin | to pass through a fine comb (search thoroughly) |
| Envoyer quelqu'un aux pelotes | to send someone to the balls of yarn (send someone about their business) |
| Tourner autour du pot | to circle around the pot (beat around the bush) |
| Payer les pots casses | to pay for the broken pots (pay the piper) |
| Passer un savon a quelqu'un | to pass a bar of soap to someone (reprimand) |
| Tirer les sonnettes | to pull doorbells (network) |
| Se mettre a table | to sit at the table (confess) |
| Saisir la balle au bond | to seize the ball on the rebound (jump at opportunity) |
| Mettre des batons dans les roues de quelqu'un | to put sticks in someone's wheels |
| Reprendre ses billes | take back one's marbles (renege on a deal) |
| Un coup d'epee dans l'eau | a sword blow into the water (wasted effort) |
| Ronger son frein | to gnaw one's bit (champ at the bit) |
| Il tombe des hallebardes | It's raining cats and dogs (halberds look like spears) |
| Avoir les jetons | to have tokens (have the jitters) |
| Voir le monde par le petit bout de la lorgnette | to see the world through the small end of a spyglass (exaggerate, get things out of proportion |
| Etre dans les petits papiers de quelqu'un | to be in someone's little papers (good graces) |
| Etre au bout du rouleau | to be at the end of the roll (end of one's rope) |
| Couper le sifflet a quelqu'un | to cut off someone's whistle (interrupt, cut someone short) |
| Etre sous les verrous | to be under the bolts (under lock and key) |
| Ramasser une veste | to pick up a jacket (lose badly) |
| Avoir l'air d'une poule qui a trouve un couteau | to look like a hen that has found a knife (look puzzled) |
| Jeter l'argent par les fenetres | to throw money out the window |
| Bruler les étapes | to burn all the stops in between (go faster than expected, without stopping) |
| Etre au four et au moulin | to be at the oven and at the mill (be two places at one time) |
| Faire le mur | to do the wall (escape, go over the wall) |
| Raser les murs | to shave the walls (keep a low profile) |
| Tenir le haut du pave | to hold the top of the cobblestone (to be upper crust and travel with the best) |
| Sauter au plafond | to jump to the ceiling (very angry and surprised) |
| Faire le pont | to make the bridge (take a long weekend) |
| Mettre la clef sous la porte | to put the key under the door (close down a business) |
| Casser la baraque | to break the shack (spoil something someone has built up) |
| Tirer les plans sur la commette | to draw up plans on the comet (count chickens before hatchd |
| Batir des chateaux en Espagne | to build castles in Spain (castles in the air) |
| Il n'y a pas le feu | there's no fire (calm down) |
| Ce n'est pas la mer a boir | it's not the sea to drink (not as bad as all that) |
| C'est au bout du monde | it's at the end of the world (halfway around the world) |
| Tomber des nues | to fall from the clouds (completely taken aback) |
| Ce n'est pas le Perou | it's not Peru (nothing to write home about) |
| C'est un travail de Roman | it's a job for a Roman (Herculean task) |
| N'etre jamais sorti de son trou | never have to come out of one's hole (live in a cave) |
| C'est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase | it's the water drop that makes the vase overflow (last straw) |
| Etre completement allume | to be completely lit up (to be crazy) |
| Etre habille comme l'as de pique | to be dressed like the ace of spades (like a scarecrow-badly!) |
| Prendre un bain de foule | take a crowd bath (mingle with the crowd) |
| Un vrai tas de boue | A real heap of mud (a junk car) |
| Etre branche | to be plugged in (in the know) |
| Coincer la bulle | to get the bubble stuck (take a nap) |
| Colle un élève | to glue a pupil (keep after school or give detention) |
| Faire cavalier seul | to act like a lone rider (go it alone) |
| Faire sauter une contravention | to make a ticket jump (have a ticket cancelled due to influential friends) |
| Une histoire a dormir debout | a story to make you sleep standing up |
| Avoir des lettres | to have letters (to be well read) |
| Connaitre la musique | to know the music (know the score) |
| Etre timbre | to be stamped (to be nuts) |
