Avaler des poires d'angoisse
Meaning: To endure something bitterly painful.
Language: French
Literally: To swallow pears of anguish
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: The poire d'angoisse was both a genuinely bitter wild pear and the name of a gag forced into a prisoner's mouth. Both senses were current together, and the phrase draws on the pair.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- En cinq sec — In no time at all.
- Une tarte à la crème — A tired cliché trotted out as though it were an argument.
- Décrocher la timbale — To carry off the prize.
- Trier sur le volet — To hand-pick with great care.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
More French idioms
- Jeter de la poudre aux yeux — To create a dazzling false impression.
- Tenir à quelque chose comme à la prunelle de ses yeux — To guard something as one's most precious possession.
- Allumer ses quinquets — To open one's eyes and pay attention.
- Couper le sifflet à quelqu'un — To silence someone abruptly, usually with an unanswerable point.
- Être dans ses petits souliers — To be acutely ill at ease.
- Mordre la poussière — To be defeated; to fall.
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