all bark and no bite
Meaning: Threatening or boastful but not actually dangerous.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The new manager shouts a lot, but he's all bark and no bite.”
Category: Animals
Origin: From the old saying that barking dogs seldom bite, recorded in English from the 16th century. The shorter form is modern.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Faire le matamore — literally: To play the Matamore
More idioms — Animals
- talk the hind legs off a donkey — To talk endlessly.
- jump through hoops — To go through many difficult or pointless steps to get something.
- slow and steady wins the race — Patience and persistence succeed better than haste.
- like a duck to water — Naturally and easily, as if born to it.
- kill the goose that lays the golden eggs — To destroy a source of profit out of greed.
- with one's tail between one's legs — Humiliated and defeated.
More English idioms
- the flip side of the coin — The opposite, usually less pleasant, aspect of something.
- the eighth wonder of the world — Something extraordinary, often said ironically.
- a den of thieves — A place full of dishonest people.
- in the arms of Morpheus — Asleep.
- take someone at their word — To believe someone, or to act on exactly what they said.
- money makes the world go round — Money is what drives everything.