IdiomBody & Senses
French
FrenchAvoir la gueule de bois
Meaning: To be hungover.
Literally: To have a wooden snout
Example: “Après la fête d'hier soir, j'ai la gueule de bois.” — After last night's party, I'm hungover.
Origin: Gueule is slang for the mouth, and after heavy drinking the mouth feels as dry and stiff as wood. The phrase is slang of the second half of the 19th century: Alfred Delvau's slang dictionary (1866) is cited for se sculpter une gueule de bois (to carve oneself a wooden mouth), for starting to get drunk, and Aristide Bruant's slang dictionary (1901) lists it next to bouche pâteuse, a furry mouth.
Equivalents in other languages
German: Einen Kater haben Literally: To have a tomcat
English: the morning after the night before
More French idioms
- Filer à l'anglaise To leave discreetly without saying goodbye.
- Se mettre sur son trente-et-un To dress up in your very best clothes.
- Les doigts dans le nez To do something with the greatest of ease.
- Tomber dans le panneau To fall for a trick or scam.
- Avoir un cœur d'artichaut To fall in love easily and often.
- Faire la grasse matinée To sleep in and have a lazy lie-in.
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