a dab hand
Meaning: Someone very skilled at something.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “My grandfather is a dab hand at making bread.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: British English. "Dab" meaning an expert is found from the late 17th century; its origin is uncertain.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Une fine lame — literally: A fine blade
More idioms — Body & Senses
- cry one's eyes out — To cry very hard and for a long time.
- hale and hearty — Healthy and strong, especially in old age.
- break a leg — Good luck, said to a performer before going on stage.
- an eye for an eye — Punishment should match the injury; revenge in kind.
- grease someone's palm — To bribe someone.
- go by shanks' mare — To walk; to travel on foot.
More English idioms
- to the letter — Exactly and precisely, following every detail.
- get the boot — To be dismissed from a job or thrown out.
- don't wash your dirty linen in public — Keep private problems and quarrels private.
- can't see the forest for the trees — Too focused on details to understand the whole situation.
- not the sharpest tool in the shed — Not very intelligent.
- the honeymoon period — The early, happy stage of a new relationship or arrangement, before problems appear.
From our untranslatable words
- Amae — The comfortable feeling of depending on another's goodwill — leaning into someone's indul…
- Weltschmerz — The weariness and sadness you feel when the world as it is falls painfully short of the w…
- Torschlusspanik — The anxious fear that time is running out — that the gates of opportunity, youth, or life…