À tour de rôle
Meaning: Each in turn.
Language: French
Literally: By turn of the roll
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The rôle was the rolled parchment listing names in order, the same word that gives an actor's part. Taking turns by the roll means following a fixed written order rather than an agreed one.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Un rond-de-cuir — A petty bureaucrat.
- Au bout du rouleau — Completely exhausted; at the end of one's resources.
- Hommes de sac et de corde — Thorough scoundrels.
- L'affaire est dans le sac — It is as good as settled.
- Mettre à sac — To plunder a place completely.
- À bon entendeur, salut — A word to the wise — take the hint.
More French idioms
- Bon sang ! — Good grief — an exclamation of exasperation.
- Bon sang ne saurait mentir — Breeding shows in the end.
- Séance tenante — Then and there, without adjournment.
- Un coup de semonce — A deliberate warning, delivered before real consequences.
- Un train de sénateur — A slow, dignified gait.
- Nourri dans le sérail — Brought up inside an institution and knowing all its workings.
From our proverbs
- Make not fish of one, and flesh of another. — Treat all people with consistent fairness; don't favor some while dismissing others arbit…
- Fish are not to be caught by a birdcall. — Wrong tools waste effort; match your methods to your actual target.
- There's as good fish in the sea as were ever caught. — Lost opportunities aren't final; future chances remain equally promising if you persevere.
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